A Rose Hidden in Bushes
by Snow in Starlight Moon
Summary: A friend of Kirihara to the Rikkaidai regulars is pretty much just like another guy. What happen when Marui and Niou started to realize there is more to it than that? Will love bloom or something else? Oh, by the way the picture is my OC. MaruixOCxNiou (also I delete the author's note so there's one less chapter now)
1. Chapter 1

**New story! Hope you'll like it! Just for the record, the girl on the cover is the OC aka Miyuki :) Hope you'll enjoy**

**Please review, thank you :D**

* * *

"Akaya! Akaya, wake up!" Miyuki said as she poked Kirihara's face. "It's after school already, and you need to go to tennis practice." _"*sigh* why does English class has to be last period of the day today… I have to wake him up afterward…"_ Miyuki thought to herself.

"Hm… Five more minutes, mom!" Kirihara said as he turned his head to the other side.

"*sigh* Akaya, if you don't wake up soon, Sanada fuku-buchou will come and kill you," Miyuki whispered into Kirihara's ear.

"Ah!" Kirihara screamed and practically jumped off his seat. "Don't kill me, Sanada fuku-buchou! Huh?" Kirihara looked around but saw no sign of Sanada whatsoever. "Hey, you tricked me! Sanada fuku-buchou isn't here!"

"Hehe," Miyuki giggled, "works every time. C'mon Akaya, you're going to be late for tennis practice. Look there's practically no one in the classroom now." Miyuki pointed out, which was true. As soon as the last bell rang, everyone ran out the classroom as if their lives depend on it.

"Oh, yeah, okay, let's go," Kirihara said as he started to pack up. "So what did I… Argh!" Kirihara yelled as he was grab by somebody at the collar.

"And where do you think you're going, Kirihara-kun?" their English teacher evilly grinned.

"Oh, hey, Miss Suzuki-sensei," Kirihara cheerfully said, "what can we do for you today?"

"Don't hey me, Kirihara-kun. Do you know what you have gotten on your last test?" Miss Suzuki asked. "A zero! You've gotten a zero!" Miss Suzuki screamed without letting Kirihara even have a chance to reply or think about the quesetion. "You're not going anywhere until you fix all your problems."

"But I…" Kirihara tried to explain that he had to leave for tennis practice.

"No, buts! Miyuki, stay around to make sure he finishes all the problems and help him, because I'm sure he is going to need some help," Miss Suzuki ordered. As soon as she finished saying those words, she made a 180 degree turn and started to leave.

"But I… ah, why do I always get stuck with you whenever you do something wrong…?" Miyuki asked herself. "C'mon Akaya, you need to do you work. The sooner you're done the sooner you get to go to practice."

"Eh… fine," Kirihara agreed as he sat down and took out a piece of paper and started writing stuff on it.

**30 min later**

"Akaya! Are you done yet? I want to go now!" Miyuki whined.

"You don't have anywhere important to go, like a club or something, so why are YOU whining!?" Kirihara complained, "unlike me, who is going to be kill by Sanada fuku-buchou if I don't show up any time soon!"

Miyuki sighed, "Akaya, you know the only reason why I didn't join the tennis club, it's because I have a job at my… my mom's best friend's restaurant, which by the way, apparently I'm taking off for the day…"

"Haha, very funny, man, why does Miss Suzuki-sensei have to be so harsh, I stink at English, so what? It's not like I'm going to be an English teacher or something!" Kirihara complained since he doesn't want to write anymore and his hand is tired.

"She's only mean to you because you stink at English and look like you don't even try! You always sleep during class, for crying out loud!" Miyuki explained. "Now, c'mon you almost finish it. And I kind of want a life here!"

"Yes, yes, Miss Miyuki-sensei," Kirihara jokingly said.

"That's Miss Hayashi-sensei to you!" Miyuki pointed out. After a few moments, they started to laugh heartily. "Now,seriously finish it!"

"Okay, okay."

* * *

**Who do you think Miyuki should end up with? Marui or Niou? You guys decide! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm here! I'm here!" Kirihara yelled out across the tennis court. "Sanada fuku-buchou, please, don't kill me!" Kirihara desperately called as he tried to put on his club jacket.

"Akaya! Wait! Your back bag!" Miyuki screamed while running after Kirihara. "Don't forget it again! And by the way, it's really heavy!"

"Hey, Miyuki," Marui cheerfully said at the moment he saw her.

"Oh, hey, Marui-sempai," Miyuki smiled and waved back, "here, Akaya, take it." Miyuki handed over Kirihara his bag.

"Oh, thanks," Kirihara grinned then patted Miyuki's head.

"Akaya, start warming up, you're already an hour late," Yukimura instructed, "50 laps and then Genichirou will decide what to do with you afterward.

"Yes, buchou," Kirihara sighed then he started to walk toward a bench to put his bag away, and then started to run his 50 laps while fearing what Sanada fuku-buchou will do to him. He can already feel the dark aura that is lurking out of Sanada's body.

"Ah~! Niou is so handsome!" A girl watching the game shouted.

"NO! Marui is the one who's dreaming!" Another girl argued back.

"No, no, no! You both are wrong! Yagyuu is the hottest! He's a complete package! He's great at tennis, handsome, and a gentleman!" The last girl fought back. Soon, other girls started join in on who do they think is the hottest guy on the tennis team.

_"Argh… They're doing it again… Why can't they just watch the game quietly without saying a single word? Maybe I should just go home or go to the library right now, so I don't have to listen to this stupid argument… again," _Miyuki quietly thought to herself.

"MIYUKI!" Miyuki's best friend, Mai, cried out to her. "Hoy, Miyuki!"

"Huh? Oh, hi, Mai," Miyuki snapped out of her thoughts, "What are you doing here?"

Mai sighed, anger at the fact that her best friend had forgotten the promise she had made this morning, "Don't you remember what you promise? You promised me that you would come with me to watch the boys' practice! Where were you!?"

"Ah!" Miyuki snapped her finger as soon as she remembered that promise, "I forgot! I'm sorry. I was force to stay after class with Akaya because he failed his English test… again."

Mai perfectly understood what she meant; since every time Kirihara did something bad, Miyuki was force to stick around until his punishment is over. Apparently, the thought was that by making Miyuki stick around him, maybe some of her good will rubbed off onto Kirihara. Finally, Mai sighed, "Miyuki, you are so lucky! You get to hang with the regulars all the time! So, who's your favorite? I'm sure you got one!" Mai kneeled Miyuki's arm with her elbow.

Miyuki looked annoyingly at her friend. Mai had been asking her that question practically all school year. The only reason why she knew the regulars was because she is a good friend with Kirihara since childhood. To her, all of them are just great friends, and she's pretty sure she is just like another guy to them. "I told you I do not like any of them. They are just friends."

"Yeah, but you always hang out with them. You, the only girl who has ever done that! Do you even know how many girls who would die just to be in your place? And beside you don't even invite me to join you guys!" Mai argued back. "You must not want any competition!"

Miyuki sighed wondering how thick her friend's head is. "First of all, there's no competition whatsoever. Second, I'm pretty darn sure they have more than me who is a girl and a friend. Lastly, the only reason why I don't invite you, it's because you, like every girl I know, screamed and giggled when they just walked by. I can't even, no, more precisely I'm afraid of imagining what you would do if you get a chance to hang out with them."

"So you're saying I have a chance?" Mai asked, "alright!" Mai made a victory sign to herself. She then started fantasized about hanging out with them and started walk away.

Miyuki shouted, "You're not even listening to me!" After a few moments of thoughts, Miyuki concluded, "Oh, what's the use… She can't hear anyone when she's in this state… Hmm, I promised Akaya that I would wait for him, but it doesn't look like Sanada fuku-buchou is letting him off anytime soon."

Miyuki looked out to the court. Everyone is pretty much packing up and ready to leave except for Sanada and Kirihara. Sanada decided he will power serve Kirihara and force him to return all of them. "C'mon! C'mon! Akaya, it's too early for you to be down!" Sanada screamed as he served a wicked ace toward Kirihara.

"Ah! Spare me, Sanada fuku-buchou!" Kirihara practically begged on the ground.

"Akaya, tarundoru (you're getting too soft)!" Sanada scouted. "You're not leaving until 7 o'clock!"

What?" Kirihara dropped his mouth. "That's three more hours!"

"You should have thought of that before coming late and arguing with Genichirou," Yukimura smiled as he picked up his bag and pushed the tennis court gate open. "Hope you'll train him well, Genichirou."

"Hm, of course, I will," Sanada said without looking at Yukimura.

_"Idiot. You never argued with Sanada fuku-buchou. You are just digging yourself a deeper hole…"_ Miyuki thought to herself. _"Well, I guess I'm going home alone today."_ Miyuki picked up her bag and started to leave.

"Miyuki! Wait!" a voice cried out making Miyuki to stop and look.

"Oh, hey, Marui-sempai," Miyuki smiled.

"Hey, are you going home?" Marui asked.

"Yeah, I am. I was going to wait for Akaya, but as you just heard he's not getting out till 7. So I thought I might as well go home right now, so my family won't think I was kidnap or something. And I can tell Akaya's family what happen." Miyuki explained.

"Well, do you want to go home together then? I know a shortcut to Akaya's house."

"Sure."


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's Ch 3! Hope you'll like it! By the way, I'm updating often only because it's summer. When school is back, I don't know when I'll update, because I'll busy with school work and stuff :(**

* * *

"So why is Akaya late today?" Marui curiously asked blowing his bubble. He also put his hands behind his head.

"Oh, he failed his English test again," Miyuki simply replied. "So where is this shortcut?"

"Actually…" Marui scratched his head laughing.

Miyuki sighed putting her head down. _"Oh, no, there's a catch to it."_ She said to herself.

"I thought we could get something to eat first! I know this great cake place, and they have great deal!" Marui joyfully said when he turned around to face Miyuki, since Miyuki had slowed down a bit.

"Sure, why not, I'm a little hungry too," Miyuki agreed.

Marui grinned and then grabbed Miyuki's hand and started to run, "Alright! Let's go then! It's just around the corner!"

"Argh! Wait, Marui-sempai," Miyuki yelled out, surprised by Marui's sudden action.

* * *

"Welcome!" a young beautiful waitress said, "ah! Marui-sama, it's so nice to see you again! And you brought a little… companying." The waitress narrowed her eyes when she saw Miyuki walking in after Marui. Her hair was long, wavy, and dark brown and tied to a ponytail. Her bangs were parted to the left. Her eyes were light green.

"Hey, Kamie, this is Miyuki. You know her, the one who is in the same class as Akaya. And also the one I sometime told you about," Marui explained.

"You were talking about me? Why?" Miyuki asked giving him an 'I'm not letting it go until you answer me.'

"Haha, you know, sometimes Niou and I would talk about stories that Akaya told us about you," Marui laughed it off.

Miyuki angrily hold her fist. _"Akaya! I am SO going to kill you!"_ She thought in her mind. _"But speaking of killing, why does Kamie out of all people have to work here…? She hates my gut, and I'm not too pleasant to see her either…"_ Kamie, in fact, is in the same class as Marui and Niou. She is also the president of Marui fan club and self-proclaimed Marui's future girlfriend and wife. (wow, even I think she's crazy and I'm the one who's writing it!) She had hated Miyuki ever since Miyuki walked in their classroom for the first time to return something that Marui had forgot at her house the day before.

* * *

**The Classroom (for the first time, memory)**

"Hi, is Marui-sempai here?" Miyuki tapped the shoulder of Kamie.

"What's it to you? How dare you ask about Marui-sama's whereabouts?" Kamie annoyingly asked. Her friends agreed with her, saying things such as 'she is such an ugly slug' or 'someone is desperate.'

"It's nothing." Miyuki pretend not to hear the name calling that was happening behind Kamie. "It's just that, I have something to give back to him."

"Hm, you so desperate that you need to pretend you have something to give back just so you can talk to Marui-sama? You're pathetic," Kamie said talking to her friends. Her friends started to laugh and agree with her.

"Miyuki, what are you doing here?" Marui asked when Niou pointed out that Miyuki is at the doorway.

"Yeah, how do you know our classroom?" Niou asked walking up to her.

"Ah, Marui-sempai and Niou-sempai, you guys really are here! Guess Akaya didn't lie," Miyuki said running up to them. It's not that she is super excited to see them; it's more of trying to escape from Kamie's evil/crazy group. "Here, you forgot this at my house." Miyuki handed over Marui's wristwatch to him.

"Oh, thanks, I was looking for that," Marui thanked Miyuki. He took his watch then patted Miyuki's head.

"No problem, well, I should go. The bell's going to ring soon," Miyuki waved to Marui and Niou a goodbye and left the classroom.

As all this was happening, there were a certain pair of death eyes were watching them closely. _"Miyuki, is it? I am going to crush you so hard untill you don't even want to step an inch close to Marui-sama." _Kamie thought to herself.

"So why were you at Miyuki's house?" Niou curiously asked Marui as they walked back to their seat.

"Oh, it's because…"

* * *

_"Out of all the crazy fan girls who are out there, she's the craziest…"_ Miyuki reminded herself.

"Well, then, I guess I'll show you your table," Kamie made a fake smile obvious stilled mad at the fact that Miyuki is here. She then led them to a small square table with couches on each side.

"Thanks," Marui sat down. Miyuki sat down nervously across Marui trying her best not to have eye contact with Kamie. "Oh, can we get two glasses of water?"

"Sure," Kamie said then she started walk toward the kitchen to get the water while stopped to tell her friends something.

"So why is she working here? Isn't she a bit young to work?" Miyuki asked letting go the awkward silence that was left behind by Kamie's absence.

"Haha, should **you** really be the one to ask that? You have a job too, and you're a year younger," Marui jokingly said, "anyway, she only works here because her dad owns the place."

"Oh," Miyuki looked down at the table. "Oh, by the way, I only work because my mom's friend needs help. I volunteered to help and sometimes he rewards me when I do well."

"Whatever, anyway, the cakes here are great! You got to try some," Marui said while picked up a menu to decide what kind of cake he should let Miyuki try.

"Well, this is a cake shop," Miyuki looked annoyingly. She just wanted to go home. First, she forced to stay after school because of Akaya and now she had to deal with Kamie all over again.

"Here're your waters," Kamie walked toward them, "There you… Argh!" Kamie tripped spilling all the waters onto Miyuki's Rikkaidai's uniform.

"Miyuki! Are you okay?" Marui stood up immediately to check on Miyuki.

"Ah…!" Miyuki was speechless. _"Man, this is so cold…!"_ Miyuki thought. "I'm fine, Marui-sempai. I'm going to the restroom to clean up." Miyuki pretended to be fine and got up without waiting for Marui's reply. She quickly ran to the restroom which was around a corner.

"Okay…"

* * *

**Restroom**

"Ahh… this is just great. Good thing it's just water," Miyuki looked at the mirror in the girl's restroom trying to dry her uniform.

"Well, look who do we have here?" a voice spoke behind Miyuki.

Miyuki looked up to look at the mirror to see who said that when she heard the voice. "Mm…? Argh, great, here comes two little annoyed pets of Kamie," Miyuki whispered under her breathe when she saw Chiyoko and Emiko, the two best friends of Kamie.

"Don't you know Marui is already taken? Why are you still trying so desperately?" Chiyoko just left that question out in the air.

"Taken by whom?" Miyuki asked innocently, "beside I didn't ask him. He asked me." She answered casually then started to leave.

"Whoa! Wait, a minute, you can't leave yet. You need to let Kamie and Marui to have their special moment," Emiko blocked the door with Chiyoko's help. Two people made it impossible for Miyuki to even try to escape.

* * *

"Marui-sama, would you come down, I'm sure Miyuki is fine," Kamie sat down where Miyuki was sitting.

"But she's being gone for so long… Maybe I should check on her?" Marui asked himself.

"But she's in the girl's bathroom."

"That's true… Hey, can you check her for me?" Marui thought of an idea.

"Umm… sure."

* * *

"Argh, I can't believe it, I purposely made you leave and yet all Marui-sama can think about is you," Kamie said it out loud as she walked into the restroom. "You really are pathetic, you know?"

"I knew it. It was done on purpose…" Miyuki sighed and started to try to leave again.

"Hey, hey, hold on a second, we're not done here," Kamie pushed Miyuki down to the ground. "I need to make sure you won't try to bother me and Marui-sama time again, so…" Immediately after she said that, Emiko handed Kamie a big bucket of melted ice cream, and Kamie then dumped it all over Miyuki. "Smile~!" Kamie said while took out her phone and took the picture. "Now, stay away from Marui-sama, or else I sent this picture to everyone in school."

Miyuki tried her best not to cry. "Ah…" She wiped some of the wet ice cream off her hair.

"Excuse me, but may I enter?" An old lady asked the three girls who were blocking the door. Miyuki took the chance and ran out the restroom.

* * *

"Miyuki, what happen to you?" Marui surprisingly asked when he saw her covered in ice cream.

"It's nothing," Miyuki quietly said, "sorry, Marui-sempai but I think I should go home now."

"Then I'll walk you home," Marui offered.

"No, it's fine, just stay here and eat the cake that you said it's so good."

"But I insist," Marui grabbed Miyuki's shoulder and smiled. He then gave her an 'I'm not taking no for answer.' "Beside, my appetite's gone now I see you like this. I won't feel right until you're save at home."

"Okay, do what you want," Miyuki gave up arguing and gave him a weak smile. All she wants to do right now is just go home, take a shower, and forget this entire thing have ever happen.

* * *

**Please Review! Thank you for everyone who review! :D**

**Oh, and I promise Niou is coming up on the next chapter!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Just as I promised Niou is in this chapter! I hope you like it! And thanks to everyone who review so far!**

* * *

"You know you still haven't answered my question," Marui said trying to destroy this awkward moment. "What happened to you?" Marui blew his bubble.

"And I told you. It's nothing," Miyuki answered coldly.

"Guess you don't want to talk about," Marui shrugged his shoulders.

"You got that right," Miyuki replied simply. "Marui-sempai, thanks for walking me home and would you mind telling Akaya's parents for me about why he's late today." Miyuki said when she reached her front gate. "Well, bye, Marui-sempai." Miyuki pushed her front gate open.

"Wait!" Marui grabbed her shoulder. "You can't go in like that. You need to clean up… at least your face." Marui got out a napkin and started to clean Miyuki's face for her. All Miyuki could do is just shut her eyes tightly, so the napkin or the ice cream won't get in her eyes.

"Umm… Marui-sempai, why do you have a napkin?" Miyuki curiously asked.

"Oh, I grabbed some when we were leaving the restaurant. I thought you might need it, and I was right." Marui rubbed Miyuki's cheek a bit harder since there was a spot that was given him a hard time cleaning. "Okay, you're all good!"

"Okay, thanks," Miyuki wiped her face to double check. "May I go now?"

"Yep!"

"Then bye-bye," Miyuki waved him a goodbye and quickly went in before he might have another idea that forced her to stay outside any longer. _"I'm so glad today is Friday. Now, I won't have to see them for a couple days."_ Miyuki cheered a little inside her head.

"Okay, bye," Marui wondered if Miyuki even heard that. _"I hope she's okay…"_

* * *

"I'm home," Miyuki sighed when she entered the house.

"You're home!" Miyuki's mom rubbed her hands on her apron to clean her hands, since she was making dinner. "What happened to you?" She asked in disbelief.

"Nothing," Miyuki said putting her shoes in the shoe closet. "I'm going take a shower now."

"Alright then, I'll go get the tub ready. I'm making dinner right now, so do you want your dinner later?" Mrs. Hayashi asked.

"No, that's okay, I'm not hunger at all," Miyuki answered walking into the house.

* * *

"Miyuki, wake up! It's 11 o'clock already," Mrs. Hayashi yelled at the first floor.

"Mm," Miyuki put her pillow over her head, so she won't have to hear her mother's yell.

Mrs. Hayashi softly sighed, knowing fully well that Miyuki didn't want to wake up and was still upset about whatever happened the day before.

'_Ding-Dong'_

"_Oh, who could that be?"_ Mrs. Hayashi asked herself as she walked toward the door to open it. "Ah, Kirihara-kun, it's great to see you. What do you need?"

"Hi, Mrs. Hayashi, it's good to see you too. I just came here to check on Miyuki." Kirihara replied.

"Oh, well, she's still in bed. But come on in, I wake her in a sec," Mrs. Hayashi offered. "So you know what happened to Miyuki?"

"Okay, thanks," Kirihara thanked her and started taking off his shoes. "Actually, I don't really know what happen, and that's why I wanted to check on her. By the way, you looked very nice today, going somewhere?"

"I see. It's nice that Miyuki has a friend like you. And yes, I do have something to do today; I need to talk to a client today." Mrs. Hayashi answered. "Miyuki, wake up! Kirihara-kun is here!"

"_Ah, why is Akaya here?"_ Miyuki mourned. She then slowly got up and stretched her body. "I'm up!" Miyuki cried. She tiredly walked down the stair a few moments later. "Okay, what you want, Akaya? Eh, where's mom?"

"Hey, Miyuki! She just left. She said something about being late if she doesn't leave right now." Kirihara welcomed her. "Now, you're up, I wanted to take you somewhere. C'mon!" Kirihara then grabbed her hand and headed for the door.

"Akaya, wait, I haven't have breakfast or changed yet!" Miyuki screamed. All she was wearing was a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. _"How many times do I have to be drag this week!?"_ She angrily thought. "What do you want and where are you taking me?" She asked when she finally got her steps down.

"Here we are!" Kirihara replied when they finally reached their destination.

"Why are we here?" Miyuki asked looking around the place. "Wait a minute, this is the old park that we used to come to play."

"Cuz I wanted to talk. C'mon sit down," Kirihara offered her to sit at a bench.

"Okay."

"So did something interesting happen lately?" Kirihara asked as casually as possible.

"No, not really," Miyuki answered calmly.

"C'mon, you can tell me. I'm your best friend," Kirihara poked her at the arm. "I mean it's not every day you have ice cream scent on you."

"I do? I thought I clean myself enough times to not smell like that," Miyuki whispered with a tone of anger in it. She then smelled herself to check to see if what Kirihara said was true or not.

"Ah! You just admit something did happen! Now talk," Kirihara cheered when he caught her in her own words.

"You… ah, fine, I'll tell you. Yesterday, Marui-sempai and I went to a restaurant where Kamie worked. And she and her friends embarrassed me by dumping melted ice cream all over me. They told me if I ever hang out with Marui-sempai again, they'll post that picture," Miyuki admitted painfully.

"Wait… You went to a restaurant and you didn't even invite me!?" Kirihara shockingly accused. Miyuki just gave him a death glare. "Oh, right, sorry! I'm really sorry for what happened." Kirihara put his hand on her shoulder.

"I... I…" Miyuki sadly looked down at the ground, looking like she's about to cry. She didn't care the fact that this picture would embarrass her. Her family had embarrassed her in public enough that almost nothing can embarrass her now. She's upset for the reason that now there will be more people to talk bad about her with more reasons, like _"And someone as embarrassing as her gets to hang out with the regulars?"_ or _"She's ruining the reputation of the regulars!"_

"It's okay," Kirihara gently hugged her to comfort her.

"Okay, now I have a question for you," Miyuki said under his arms. "Niou-sempai, why are you disguising yourself as Akaya?" Miyuki asked looking up at him.

"What are you talking about? I'm Kirihara Akaya!" Kirihara tried to explain. Before he can talk anymore, Miyuki grabbed his "hair" and pulled it off, which revealed to be Niou underneath. "Piyo," Niou smiled.

"I knew it… Akaya is in the history of the worst comforter when it comes to a problem like this," Miyuki annoyingly said. "Now, why did you pretend to be Akaya?" Miyuki asked grabbing his shirt.

"Okay, fine, I'll tell you if you just let go of me." Niou begged. Miyuki sighed and let go of his shirt. "I thought you wouldn't tell anyone about this unless it's someone who you completely trusted. I knew you trust Akaya, so I thought you would tell me if I was pretending to be him," Niou admitted.

Miyuki was left speechless. She thought for a while before reply. "I can't believe you… How do you even know about this?"

"Oh, we had tennis practice this morning, and Marui was distracted all through practice. So we asked him, and he told us what happened yesterday," Niou answered her.

"Oh…" Miyuki replied thoughtlessly. _"I can't believe he was down for that. I shouldn't have given him a cold shoulder like that. It wasn't his fault for what happened to me." _She thought guilty.

"So you said it was Kamie who did that, huh?" Niou carelessly said putting his hands behind his head. "I knew she was insane the day I met her. Although, I never thought she was _**this**_ insane. She always stared at Marui, it's just creepy."

"How do you know that?" Miyuki asked after she snapped out of her thought.

"Oh, I sat behind her in class, and all she does is just watch Marui. I don't even know how she is able pass the class or not get caught by the teacher. Although I never understand why Marui never realized that. He stilled treat her like she's one of his friends," Niou wondered. "So are you better now?"

Miyuki slapped her short to clean it off and stood up, "I'm okay now. I promised." She smiled at Niou.

"I knew you would feel better if you just talk it out," Niou stood up after her. "So what are we doing today?"

"We? What do you mean 'we'?" Miyuki confusingly asked.

"We, as you and me, we're hanging out today" Niou smiled at her, "as a gift for taking care of this little incident." Niou told her before she had a chance to say something.

"You… argh, okay, fine, whatever," Miyuki sighed since she knew if she kept arguing with him, she would lose anyway. She had tried to argue with every regulars before, but she always lost and ended up doing something stupid with them. "But I don't know what I'm doing today so it might be boring."

"That's okay. Let's go!"


	5. Chapter 5

"So where are we going?" Niou poked his head close to Miyuki and asked her.

"Home, I need to go change first," Miyuki replied. "Then we can decide what to do."

"Okay," Niou said with a hint of disappointment.

"Niou-sempai, I'm not going out wearing just my PJs," Miyuki responded to him with a sharp tone, clearly heard his tone of disappointment.

"I was kidding!" Niou joked around, putting his hands close to his chest as to say 'don't take this so seriously.'

"Since I'm tire, I'm going to buy that," Miyuki sighed. All she wanted to do today was just stay in bed and do nothing. But now she stuck with trying to give Niou a good day.

* * *

"Is there anyone in the house today?" Niou cursiouly asked. He didn't hear or see anyone when he first entered her house, disguised as Kirihara, or now.

"Oh, well, you know, my mom's gone to see a client. My dad's gone on a business trip, my sister is cooped up in her room with some sort of teenage drama, and my brother, he's preparing for college, so he doesn't leave his room much," Miyuki answered casually taking off her shoes.

"Doesn't your family do anything together then?" Niou asked checking on her house decoration.

"I want to, but everyone else also says they're busy, so no," Miyuki replied not meeting his eyes.

"Oh," Niou scratched his head, not knowing how to reply to that. "Miyuki, I'm hungry! Do you have something for lunch?" Niou asked changing the subject.

"Yeah, let me look at the fridge," Miyuki said walking toward the kitchen. "How about something simple like pop stickers?" She asked since it was the first thing she saw when she opened the fridge. (I also had that a few days ago, so I decided to put it in the story)

"Sure," Niou answered distractingly looking around Miyuki's house. "Are you going to make some for your brother and sister?"

"No, in this household, everyone takes care of themselves. If they want something, they can make it themselves," Miyuki shrugged her shoulders. She got out a pot big enough to fit two people's amounts of pop stickers. She looked at the types of pop stickers they have. "Let's see, there's pork, vegetable, and beef… Hmm, I guess pork will be alright. Niou-sempai, is pork okay with you?"

_No reply._

Miyuki shouted again, and yet there still was no response. "That's weird, Niou-sempai?" Miyuki popped her head out of the kitchen, and found no one in the living room. "Where's Niou-sempai?"

* * *

"Wow, you really get to know about someone when you look through their house closely," Niou whistled walking around Miyuki's house. He had gone upstairs, where the bedrooms are, because of his curiosity. "Hm, and whose room is this?" Niou asked himself deviously, when he walked up to a door that said _"Miyuki's Room, Stay Out! That means you, Roy!"_

Niou simply assumed that Roy must be her older brother, since the only other man that is in the family is her father, who he doubted Miyuki would call him by his first name. "I wonder why she doesn't call him, onii-chan?" Niou wondered about it himself. "Wow, her room is cleaned. I thought she would throw a tantrum after what happened yesterday." Niou surprisingly said, looking around her room.

Niou continued to look around the room until he saw a picture of a young girl, who looked like Miyuki, and an older lady, who, he was sure, is not Mrs. Hayashi. The lady, in the picture, had her arms around the young girl's shoulder to give her a hug. Although, the lady looked a lot like Miyuki, she had long hair with dirty blonde, light blue eyes, and a beautiful, sincere smile. The little girl had a smile as big as her mouth can spread. "Who is that?" Niou asked as he picked up the picture.

"Enjoying yourself?" a voice asked that startled Niou.

Niou turned around and realized who had spoken that. "Mi… Miyuki, I was just…" Niou tried to explain. "Checking to see if there's any bugler…"

"You know for a prankster, your lies stink," Miyuki gave him a weak smile. She walked toward to him and took the picture from his hands. "If you wonder who she was, she's my mother, my real mother."

"But, what do you mean by that?" Niou shockingly asked, surprised that Miyuki, who had a smile on her face particularly every day, had some secret like this.

"My mom died when I was only four years old. She died from a disease. She told me she'll be fine, but you know… she didn't," Miyuki looked away giving a cheap smile. "My dad was killed by a car accident, before I was even born." She then grabbed a reddish pink scarf and held it close to her heart. "This scarf was made by my mom when she was in the hospital. She wanted me to keep it as a memory of her."

"Then this family is…?" Niou simply put out waiting for Miyuki to finish the sentence.

"They're my mom's close friend. None of my relatives wanted me. They acted like they cared when my mom is still alive. Right after she died, they showed their true self. They pretended they don't even know me." She revealed.

"I'm sorry, that must be awful," Niou put a hand on her shoulder.

"Nah, it's okay. If that didn't happen, I would have never meet Akaya or any of you guys," Miyuki smiled, remembering all the good memories she had with them. "In a way, it's a good ending! C'mon, the pop stickers should be done by now. Hope you like pork flavor, cuz that what we're having." Miyuki grabbed his hand and dragged him downstairs.

During lunchtime, there wasn't much conversation. They ate their food silently. Neither of them knew what to say. After they're done eating, Miyuki grabbed both of their plates into the kitchen to wash them.

"Miyuki, come on, let's go," Niou nagged her to hurry up.

"Go? Go where?" Miyuki asked without looking away from her dishes.

"I mean let's go. We're going shopping," Niou snapped his fingers.

"We are?"

"We are now, so hurry up and go change," Niou pushed Miyuki up the stairs.

"Okay, okay, don't push!" Miyuki tried to gain her steps on the stairs, so she won't fall down the stairs.

* * *

"Okay, fine, I'm ready," Miyuki called after 15 minutes. She was wearing a light green shirt with a ribbon tied around her stomach and skinny jeans which she will wear a pair of brown boots with it. She tied the front of her hair into a braid and tied to the back. (like the picture, I don't really know how to describe it so…)

"You really should change your look once in a while, you know," Niou jokingly said pointing to her hair. She always put her hair like this in school. Some of the mean girls even said that she was just lazy to fix her hair. Kirihara even said that she's been putting her hair like that since the 6th grade.

"Yeah, you should talk, Mr. Rat Tail," Miyuki remarked back smartly. "Let's go then." She pointed to the door.

"Okay," Niou stood up and caught up with her.

* * *

They went to a mall nearest to Miyuki's house. The first store they went to only had women's clothing for different age of women. Every girl in the store looked at Niou weirdly when he entered the store. Some whispered, "Why is a guy here? Other teenage girls whispered to each other, "Hey, he's kinda hot!" Miyuki wanted to ask why Niou would want to come to a place like this, but all he did was just threw her some clothes and told her to try it on.

"How about this one?" Miyuki asked opening the changing room door. She was wearing yellow sundress with sunflower pattern on it. She saw a straw hat on a mannequin's head. She took it and put it on her head. "Is this good?"

"Sure," Niou replied without much care.

"You know, if you're bore, you should try something too," Miyuki gave him a stare. She still doesn't understand why Niou wanted to go shopping, and what's more weird is that this isn't a shopping trip for one of his disguise. "Ah! I know! There's a store around the corner that my mom likes to take Roy to. Just hold on, I'll be right out!" Miyuki gave him her index finger to tell him to wait for a minute and went back to the changing room.

"What? Sure," Niou carelessly said while looking at his phone. Apparently, he barely heard a single word she said. When he had snapped out of his world, he realized that he was in a complete different store. Instead of women looking at clothes, there were men looking at clothes. "Where are we?" Niou confusingly asked.

"I told you, we're going to a store to look at clothes for you," Miyuki replied wondering why he needed to ask that question. "Were you even listening to me?"

"Kinda," Niou admitted.

"Oh, well," Miyuki sighed. "Anyway, try these on!" She pushed Niou into the changing room with some of the clothes that she had picked up for him.

"I'm done," Niou yelled carelessly. He was wearing a green shirt with a low cut that had string on the low cut forming "X's" and a pair of loose brown pants.

"I don't get you. You don't look like you want to go shopping at all, so why did you even suggest it?" Miyuki asked grumpily, putting her hands on both side of her hips.

"I thought girls like to do this kind of stuff when they're sad or upset," Niou scratched his head. "Every time Kamie is sad, she always talked to her friends about going shopping nonstop."

"Every girl is different, and beside I'm not sad," Miyuki looked at him. "It's getting late. I should go home."

"Okay, and don't worry about what happened yesterday, I'll fix everything," Niou winked at her.

"You, wha…?" Miyuki confusingly asked. "Fine, I'll leave the matter to your hands. Oh, and please don't tell anyone about what happen yesterday or about my family. I don't want them to know. I mean I **really **don't want them to know. "

"Puri, it's a deal then," Niou smiled.

* * *

**It's done! After finishing this chapter, I realized how long these last few chapters had been. Please, tell me if it's okay to be longer or you would like it to be shorter. Cuz right now I've been trying to cut it short. So if you don't mind being longer, please tell me! And thank you for reading! Please review :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey! Happy first day of September and labor day on Monday! So I took Jshae414 advice and made this chapter longer! It's 2,414 words! That's the longest chapter I have ever written! Anyway, I hope you'll like this chapter! And if you have any ideas, please tell me! I would love to know and put it in the story! And remember you writers are the ones who decide which one Miyuki is going to end up with! I need to know! **

**One more thing, my school started, so I'll probably update the story every week or every other week!**

**On to the story!**

* * *

"Miyuki? What are you doing here at this hour?" Kirihara shockingly asked. He was surprised that she was here during the morning practice. She would only be here if Kirihara ordered her to wake him up in the morning, since his alarm clock (his mom) doesn't work (left early). "What's that you have there? Is it a gift for me?" He excitedly asked when he saw that she was carrying a big blue shopping bag.

"What time I want to be at school, is my business not yours," Miyuki narrowed her eyes. "And no, this is not for you."

"Who is it for, then?" Kirihara disappointedly asked. He clearly wanted the gift even though he had no idea what was inside.

"It's for Marui-sempai," Miyuki looked down at her bag. "Because…"

"What's for me?" Marui asked cutting off Miyuki's line. He apparently overheard their conversation and decided to join in when he heard his name.

"This," Miyuki handed over the bag to Marui. "It's a little gift to apologize for being so rude last week." She looked at the ground shamefully.

"Is that it? You weren't rude at all! I'm the one who should be apologizing for bringing you to that restaurant," Marui laughed it off. "Although, I'll still take the gift, thanks," he patted her head. He decided to keep the gift as soon as he saw that it was one of her homemade chocolate cake. (man, I love chocolate cake… sorry, back to the story)

"I would want you to keep it anyway," Miyuki smiled.

"What are you going to do now?" Kirihara wondered.

"I don't really know. I guess I can head to the classroom right now," Miyuki wondered about it herself. "Maybe read a book or something?"

"Why don't you stick around and watch my genius technique?" Marui thought of. "You can read your book out here too!"

"Don't you mean 'our' technique?" Kirihara accused him. "You know, you're not the only one who's practicing, right, Marui-sempai?"

"Haha," Miyuki laughed. "Yes, sure, I stick around to watch your genius technique."

"Akaya, Marui! What are you two doing here!?" Sanada angrily yelled from a distance. "Twenty laps, right now!"

"Yes, Sanada fuku-buchou!" Both of them yelled and started to jag away while waving Miyuki a goodbye.

"I'm surprise to see you here," a voice startled Miyuki from behind.

"Eh?" Miyuki turned around to see who had said that. "Niou-sempai, you scared me!" She slightly slapped Niou at the forearm.

"Puri, I was hoping for that," Niou grinned. "What brought you here?"

"I was giving Marui-sempai an apologizing cake for the way I acted last Friday, before you know… that person shows up," Miyuki answered honestly.

"Ah, I see, don't worry about her. I'll take care of her," Niou winked. "Just come to my classroom during break time." Niou started to walk away.

"Wait! I can't! Kamie will kill me if I walk into your classroom again," Miyuki yelled after him, catching up with him. She couldn't believe he would even think of telling her to go back to that classroom again. She had not gone to that classroom alone even since that incident with Kamie and her friends. The only time she would go is if Kirihara was going with her, that way she will at least have some kind of protection.

"And I told you I'll take care of her." Niou pointed his index finger at her forehead. "Don't you believe me?" He asked curiously.

"Well, you are a trickster, so it's hard to say," Miyuki crossed her arms.

"But I'm your friend, not Kamie's, so don't worry," Niou reassured her.

"Okay, fine, I'll be there during break," Miyuki sighed. _"You're trying to kill me. Aren't you, Niou-sempai…?"_ She thought in her head.

"See you then," Niou waved her a goodbye. "Sanada fuku-buchou will definitely kill me if he finds me slacking off again."

"Okay, see ya."

* * *

**Break Time**

"Let's see… Class B, class B," Miyuki looked through the third classroom floor searching for Niou's and Marui's classroom. She had forgotten where it is, since it's being a while she had last visited them. "There it is," she happily said to herself when she finally found the room. She was about to enter the classroom when she heard a voice behind her.

"Didn't you take your sweet time," the voice teased.

"Ah!" Miyuki shrugged her shoulders in surprise. "How are you always able to scare me?"

"It's your fault for coming at the perfect time for me to scare you," Niou simply replied putting his hands in his pocket.

"That is a horrible answer," Miyuki sighed, upset that he had put the blame on her.

"Look who I spot with my little eyes," a sharp voice cried. Niou and Miyuki both turned around to find that voice belong to Kamie. "I thought I told you to say away from Marui-sama, which also means his classroom."

"Don't be so mad. I don't even see Marui-sempai anywhere, and beside I'm not even in the classroom," Miyuki pointed out the fact that she hadn't entered the other side of the door. "See."

Kamie just gave her death glare. She was angered that Miyuki had dared to protest against her, the queen of the third year Rikkaidai. _"This second year needs to learn her place!"_ She angrily thought to herself. She thought of an idea as soon as the door was opened on the other side. She immediately pushed Miyuki down to the floor. "Now, you're inside." She grinned viciously.

"Woah! You okay?" The guy who opened the door asked, surprised that the first thing that came when he opened the door was a girl falling down to the floor.

"Miyuki, you okay?" Niou quickly bended down to check on her, offering her a hand.

"Yeah, I think so," Miyuki cleaned herself a little bit then took Niou's hand to help her stand up. "Thanks."

"Now, for your punishment, say goodbye to your life," Kamie took out her phone and started looking for that embarrassing picture of Miyuki covered in ice cream. "Oh, where is it…!?" She was getting frustrated, because she had looked through her pictures 3 times, but still can't find it. Miyuki just looked at her confusingly, while Niou just kept grinning, trying to hide a secret or something.

"What picture?" Niou asked innocently. "If you're talking about the picture of Miyuki, Marui deleted it when he borrowed your phone. He said that picture looked awful, so he deleted it. Puri."

"What? But I…" Kamie started to panic. She didn't know how to respond to that. "Argh…!" She shouted in desperation and started to walk away followed by her friends trying to calm her down. "I am **so** going to kill that second year…!" She told her friends fiercely.

"There, told you I will fix everything," Niou grinned.

"Hey, guys, why are you just standing at the doorway?" Marui asked walking into the classroom. He went to buy some bread, since the donuts he brought at home weren't enough to satisfy him. "By the way, did you guys see Kamie storming out of the classroom? She looked kind of upset."

"You know, teenage girls, she's probably mad about gain few pounds or something," Niou casually said covering up what just happened.

"Speaking of Kamie, Miyuki," Marui took a deep breath before asking, "was she the one who dumped that melted ice cream all over you?"

"Eh!?" Miyuki looked at him in horror. "Wha… what do you mean?" She tried to recover from that shock.

"You know what I mean. I know what happened. I just need you to answer me, so I can make sure," Marui looked her with his rare serious eyes.

"You told?" Miyuki looked at Niou in disbelief. "Why?" She stared at him with burning eyes. She was a bit mad that he told Marui about the problem with Kamie. But what she was really mad about is that if he had told Marui about this, then he must have told him about her family. She didn't want anyone to know about her family issue. People had treated her differently when they found out about this.

"I didn't," Niou tried to explain. When Marui saw how angry she was, he realized he must have said something wrong.

"I don't want to hear it," Miyuki pushed both of them away from her and started to run toward the stairway. _"I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear it…!"_ She kept repeating that in her head. She wasn't watching where she was going until she had run into someone. "Ah!" She looked up to see who she had run into. "Yukimura-buchou?"

"Miyuki, what's the matter? It's not like you to run in the hallway," Yukimura smiled gently, asking in concern. He had caught her, so that neither of them would fall. He was accompanied by Sanada and Yanagi.

"Miyuki, wait!" Marui yelled behind them. He and Niou were also running trying to catch up with Miyuki. They spotted her when she halted at the stairway.

"Miyuki, Niou didn't tell me anything about the incident. I figured it out myself." Marui explained.

"Yeah, he only asked me if Kamie had ever acted this crazy, so I told him about some stories of Kamie. But not about you," Niou backed up Marui. They couldn't tell what she was thinking, since her face was still hidden in Yukimura's arms.

"Miyuki, I think they want an answer," Yanagi said when he noticed Miyuki hadn't given them a single answer. Miyuki just shook her head violently.

"You can't hide forever, Miyuki. You need to answer them," Sanada said firmly.

"Miyuki, if you want, we can get back at her! I mean we do have Niou, the biggest prankster in school! I'm sure he can think of something to get her back!" Marui said trying to cheer her up.

"Yeah! I already have some ideas in my head. We can put fake cockroaches in her back bag, or switched her makeup with rash cream. We'll get her back as soon as you tell us to," Niou agreed.

"Miyuki, it's okay to be mad, but you can't let it take control of you," Yukimura explained when she stilled won't reply to them.

After a few moments, Miyuki decided that she wasn't going to be off the hook until she answered them. She breathed heavily for a while, before finally turned around with a fake smile. "I'm okay, really! I'm sorry I acted it that way! And please, don't take revenge on Kamie." They all looked at her in surprise. She paused a little bit before continuing. "If you do, then I'll be just like her. It won't do anyone good. She'll get hurt and I'll get hurt, because of the guilt. No one will win. So, please don't." She putted her head looking at her folded hands.

"If you say so," Niou shrugged his shoulder disappointedly. He wanted to get Kamie back for making Miyuki felt so bad these last few days. Besides, he just loves pranking people.

"I need to go. The bell is going to ring soon," Miyuki quietly said. She then ran down the stairs without hesitation not waiting for any of the regulars to reply.

* * *

**Lunch Time – Rooftop**

Miyuki silently opened the door that led to the rooftop. She had left the class quickly, so that neither Kirihara nor Mai would have time to ask her where she was going. She was distracted throughout the whole period. Now, she just wanted to be alone. She was still kind of upset what had happened this morning. _"Why did I act that way? I knew I shouldn't have told Niou-sempai about my family. Why did I tell him about it anyway? I knew he would probably use it to black mail me, for crying out loud! No one should know that. It's my problem, my problem alone…!"_ She tried to convince herself.

She slowly looked up and saw all the flowers that Yukimura had planted here two years ago. She walked toward the flowers. As she walked toward there, a gentle smile appeared on her face. "Don't you guys look beautiful?" She bends down to touch the flowers lightly. "Yukimura-buchou really puts a lot of works on you guys! And look at you, you're finally blooming! Yukimura-buchou tried so hard to let you grow healthy. I sure would love to take care of you guys someday."

"Thank you," Yukimura slowly closed the rooftop door. "I appreciate that, and I'm sure the flowers appreciate too." He jokingly said. He then sat down next her. "I'm proud of what you said this morning. It's easy to fall into temptation, but it's hard to be forgiving."

"If I don't forgive her, then I would hate her with all my heart. I don't need that feeling inside me," Miyuki shook her head lightly. "The only way to forget something like this is to forgive. At least, that's what my mom said." She reasoned. _"Or used to."_ She pictured her real mom saying those exact words in her head.

"I see. Your mom had taught you well, then." Yukimura responded. "Not many people at our age understand this concept. Aside from this, I heard you wanted to take care of these flowers." Miyuki nodded her head slowly, not sure where this conversation is leading to. "I would love to have you to help me take care of them."

"Really?" She excitedly asked.

"Yep," he smiled, "but you have promised me one thing. You will come with me to eat lunch with our friends right now."

"But I…" Miyuki looked at the ground. She was ashamed of herself for how she had acted during break time. Right now, the last thing she wanted to do is to see Marui and Niou.

"Miyuki, it was a misunderstanding. No one was at fault. You can't be mad at them for something like this." Yukimura explained.

"I know," Miyuki agreed with him. "It's just that…"

"It's nothing. C'mon," Yukimura showed a hand to tell her to follow him. "By the way, you don't have to keep calling me buchou. You're not in the tennis club."

"Okay…" She reluctantly followed, knowing full well no one can disagree with Yukimura. "I know that. But it's really hard since Akaya always calls you buchou. It kind of got stuck with me too now."

"Alright, just call me whatever you want then," Yukimura laughed.

* * *

**I'm going to explain what happen to Kamie's picture next chapter! I promise! I was going to do it on this chapter, but it was getting a bit long. So I was like never mind -_-...**


	7. Chapter 7

**Another long chapter, haha! I hope you guys like it! :D Please review.**

* * *

"Hey, guys, guess who I brought," Yukimura said as he walked toward the regulars who were having lunch. Kirihara was stealing food from Marui, which ended with the third year chasing him trying to get his food back. Sanada scolded them and told them to sit down to eat their lunch quietly.

"Hey, Miyuki!" Kirihara cheerfully waved to her to tell her to sit next to him. "I was wondering where you were. Here, I got your lunch!" He showed Miyuki her lunchbox wrapped in light green cloth.

"How did I know that you would grab my lunch for me?" Miyuki asked herself. She sat down in between Kirihara and Jackal. "Thanks," she bowed her head a little when he handed her the lunch box.

"Are you okay now, Miyuki?" Marui asked in concern. He was still worry about what happen to her. In fact, he wasn't able to concentrate in class at all. He was yelled by the teacher to pay attention at least three times.

"Yeah, I'm fine now. Thanks," she smiled widely.

"Oh, Niou-kun, there you are. Where have you been?" Yayguu asked when Niou walked toward them looking annoyed.

"I was asked by another girl for a date," Niou putted his hands in his pocket.

"Again? That's the fifth time this month," Yanagi said as he entered that into his data.

"Miyuki!" Mai yelled across the courtyard when she finally had found her friend. "Finally, do you know how long I been looking for you? I was worried sick! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" Miyuki shockingly said repeating what she had just said a few moments ago.

"Why?" Mai wondered how dense her friend can be. "You ran out the class like you were going to puke!"

"You must be Mai. Nice to meet you, Miyuki told us a lot about you," Yanagi said when he realized who Miyuki was talking to.

"Ye… Yes, I am… It's… a… honor… to meet you too…" Mai stumblingly said as she just figured out that a regular had talk to her and it's not Kirihara. She also did a full 90 degree bow. "What did you say to them?" Mai grabbed Miyuki at the arm and asked in whisper so that only she can hear. Mai had hope that she did not say any embarrassing thing about her.

"Nothing! Why are you so upset?" Miyuki surprisingly asked. She didn't tell them about how Mai had walked into the wrong restroom twice, or how people had thought she was a boy when she was little. Her mom had try to cut her hair and ended up leaving her hair up to the ears. Although, she wouldn't mind telling them those stories since Mai had told these stories to friends who are girls before, so she thought it was okay to tell the story to anyone.

"Mai-kun, why don't you have lunch with us? Lunch is almost over anyway, so there's no point of trying to go somewhere else to eat," Yagyuu kindly asked her.

"Really, may I!? This is great! It's like a dream come true! This is the greatest day of my life! I have to…" Mai stopped herself when she realized all the regulars were giving her the "she's a weirdo, stay away from her" look. Miyuki was also giving her the "stop talking, please, you're embarrassing yourself" look. "I mean I'm honor to dine with you!" She did a nice lady bow toward them.

"_She's trying __**way**__ too hard…"_Everyone immediately thought as soon as she had bow.

"Anyway, let's eat!" Miyuki tried change the subject so Mai wouldn't embarrass herself any further. She happily opened her box until she saw what's inside. "Akaya, did you open my lunch box?"

"Yeah, why?" Kirihara asked with a mouthful of rice.

"Cuz half my meat is gone and I'm pretty sure they're in your stomach right now screaming 'get me out of here'!" Miyuki angrily said shaking his neck as if she was trying to make him throw it back up.

"Stop! You gonna make me puke!" Kirihara dizzily cried trying not to choke on the rice he had just stuffed down his throat.

"You deserve it!" Miyuki shook him few more times before stopping to eat her lunch.

* * *

"_Ding-Dong, Ding-Dong!" _The bell sounded it off to warn the students that they have about five minutes to head to class.

"We should go now. Class is starting," Jackal reminded everyone.

"Yeah, you're right," Yagyuu agreed. As soon as he said that, everyone started to pack up their lunch and ready to leave. When everyone's done, Yukimura said goodbye to everyone and headed to class while everyone else followed him.

"Wait, Niou-sempai," Miyuki grabbed Niou at the wrist to hold him. She said in a whisper so that no one will hear her beside him.

"What is it?" Niou asked casually.

"What did you do to that picture?" Miyuki asked. When she saw the confused look on Niou, she continued to explain further. "Marui-sempai doesn't look like he knew anything. So you must have done something. What did you do?"

"Why do you care? I fix everything, so there's nothing to worry about!" Niou reasoned with her wondering why she wasn't just satisfied with the result.

"I know, but I just want to know. I mean it is about me, so I deserve to know," Miyuki looked at the ground guilty. She knew she probably shouldn't ask this, but she couldn't help herself for being curious.

"Man, you're a hard girl to please," Niou scratched his head annoyingly.

* * *

**Classroom 3-B, before school starts**

"Ah, Marui, I forgot one of my tennis rackets. Can you get it for me?" Niou realized when he searched in his tennis bag to find a textbook.

"What? No way! Do it yourself, lazy!" Marui complained. They just got back from practice, and he does not want to go all the way down to the tennis court again just to get Niou's forgotten racket.

"Just do it! Or else I'll disguise as you and do something embarrassing!" Niou threated.

"You already do that!" Marui pointed out.

"Fine, then how about this: if you do it, then I promise I won't disguise as you for a week!" Niou raised his right hand to swear this promise.

"Make it a month, and you got a deal," Marui raised the bar of the promise.

"Fine, just go!" Niou started to push him toward the stair. As soon as he couldn't see Marui anymore, he pulled out a red wig and grinned. "After this, puri."

"Yo, Kamie!" Niou disguised as Marui cheerfully waved to her.

"Ma… Marui-sama" Kamie stumbled out those words. The blush on her face was as red as the color on Marui's hair. This wasn't the first time Marui had talk to her, but every time he does, she felt like her heart is beating twenty times faster than normal. "Did… did you… need something?"

"Yeah, can I borrow your phone for a sec?" Marui (Niou) grinned pointing a finger to his face.

"Of… of course, you may!" Kamie looked through her bag roughly to find her phone. "Here… here you go! Why do you need it, Marui-sama?" Kamie asked curiously when she handed him her phone.

"Cuz I want to add my phone number to it," Marui (Niou) casually said as he pressed the up and down bottoms on her phone. Although in reality, he was really searching for that picture of Miyuki.

"You're doing what!?" Kamie screamed and almost fainted if it weren't for her friends being there to catch her.

"Yep, and there you go," he handed over her phone to her once he had found the picture and deleted. "See you around then." He gave her quick wave and started walking toward the classroom.

"I can't believe it! Marui-sama actually put his number in!" Kamie fan-screamed with her friends. They were also jumping around in circle cheering.

"See, you have liked a thousand times better chance with Marui than that idiot, Miyuki!" Chiyoko agreed with her.

"Ya, totally!" Emiko backed her up.

"_Stupid fangirls… They only think about themselves…"_ Niou thought when he overheard their conversation as he was walking away.

* * *

"And that's what happen," Niou finished his story.

"So you tricked her, surprise, surprise," Miyuki narrowed her eyes thinking she could have just thought this herself without even to ask. "So did you even put any numbers in?"

"Oh, no, I did, but it's not Marui's. If I did, Marui would know it's me for sure, and would want to murder me." Niou said while giving her a look that said 'I would love to see him try though.' "I just put a random third year male student as Marui's number. It could be a blessing or a curse for him." He said shrugging his shoulders.

"I… I see," Miyuki sweat-dropped wondering what that poor lad would do when Kamie texts him or worse calls him. "Well, thanks for telling me that, and we should get to class."

"One more thing," Niou called after her. "If you have any more problems just tell us, we'll protect you. I promise."

"Thanks, Niou-sempai," Miyuki cheered as she jagged away.

"Oh, wait, you should come and watch the practice today!" Niou thought of one more things.

"Okay, I will!"

* * *

"Finally, school is over! I thought I won't be able make it!" Kirihara whined as he put his head on his desk tiredly.

"What do you mean 'won't make it'? You were asleep for most of it!" Miyuki teased when she heard that comment.

"That's because I got an awesome new fighting game this weekend. Once I started, I couldn't put the controller down! I was staying up till like 2 o'clock last night," Kirihara explained.

"Then it's your fault for staying up late," Miyuki gave him no comfort. "You should get ready, or else Sanada fuku-buchou is definitely going to kill you." She started to walk toward the door.

"Speaking of that," Kirihara caught up with her. "Miyuki, can I ask you a favor?"

"What?" She looked back at him as she opened the door.

"Can you get Marui-sempai's cake for me?" Kirihara asked. "He said it's at the Home Ec Room. He told me to get it, but as you just said if I'm late again, Sanada fuku-buchou is definitely going to kill me."

"You guys are so needy!" Miyuki whined. "Why can't Marui-sempai get it himself?" She can't understand why the regulars can practice for 5 hours straight, and yet they can't do something that took only 5 minutes.

"He had the same reason as me, haha," Kirihara guilty laughed scratching his head.

"Why did you even agree to it then?" She wondered. Before Kirihara had a chance to explain, she continued. "Second thought, don't bother answering that. Fine, I'll do it. But you own me big time!"

"Yes, thank you, Miyuki. You're the best," Kirihara patted her on the head.

"Why do all of you do that?" Miyuki asked remembering everyone on the team had done that to her at least once.

"Because to us, you're like a little sister!" Kirihara rubbed her head some more.

"Why do you do it then? You were born 2 months after me!" She pointed out the fact. (Kirihara was born on September 25, while Miyuki was born on July 16)

"Because you're my best friend,"Kirihara reasoned with her.

"You can stop now," Miyuki gently pushed his hand away from her head.

"Okay, well, I should go, see you later, Miyuki," Kirihara waved to her while started running toward the stairs.

"Bye-bye," Miyuki waved back to him. "Home Ec Room, here I come."

* * *

**Home Ec Room**

"Kamie, that cake looks perfect!" Chiyoko smiled when Kamie carefully took the vanilla cake out of the oven.

"Ya, that is the best cake I have ever laid my eyes on," Emiko agreed.

"And now, all it needs is some decoration, and it'll be perfect for Marui-sama," Kamie looked at her creation. She then grabbed some whip cream and strawberry and started to decorate them.

"Home Ec Room, there it is," Miyuki opened the door without realizing Kamie and her friends were in here. She looked around the room and found it extreme messy. The tables around the four corners were full of cakes or pies that the students had made. In the middle, there were six tables for people to bake. At one of the tables, she found that Kamie and her friends were carefully decorating a cake. "You know what. I can come back later." She said quietly and started to walk away.

"Wait, brat!" Kamie yelled after her. "What's the rush?"

"Oh, nuts," Miyuki halted. She turned around and gave them a weak smile. "I just remember I have somewhere else to go, so see ya!"

"I know why she's here," Emiko snapped her finger. "She's trying to impress Marui with a cake." Miyuki stopped when she heard Emiko's comment.

"Is that so?" Kamie glared at her. "Well, you got no chance anyway, because obliviously Marui-sama is into me!"

"What? No, I… Never mind," Miyuki sighed knowing full well that Kamie does not or refuses to listen to her. And when she does, somehow she always gets the wrong ideas. "Look, why do we have to be enemies anyway? Why can't we just be friends? I got nothing against you, so why are you against me?"

"'Why we can't be friends?' she said," Chiyoko mocked her.

"You know full well why we can't be friends!" Kamie glared at her. "One, Marui-sama is mine. Two, I **hate** you. And three, Marui-sama is **mine**!"

"Those are horrible reasons," Miyuki sighed not meeting Kamie's eyes. As she was looking at the side, she spotted a cake with a tag that says "Marui Bunta, 3B." "Oh, look, I found what I was looking for." She hurriedly ran toward the cake, took it, and stuffed the tag into her pocket to make sure Kamie did not see her grabbing Marui's cake. "Well, see you later, Kamie. I'm sorry we can't be friends, but I wish you good luck with Marui-sempai." _Not that you have any chance with him, but._ She thought the last part in her head. She quickly ran out the door while making sure that the cake is okay.

"I really don't like her," Kamie concluded when Miyuki left the room.

"Wait, Kamie, wasn't that Marui's cake?" Emiko asked when she remembered Marui putted his cake right there after he finished it today.

"Ya, it is," Kamie casually said. "Wait, what!?" Kamie screamed after a few seconds of thinking.

* * *

**I'm tired now... I finish writing this in the weekend. I didn't have anytime to write during the week. I have so much homework :( But anyway, I'm still going to try my best to update this often!**


	8. Chapter 8

"Miyuki, my best friend in the whole wide world!" Mai cheered running toward her friend and started shaking her on her shoulder. "Have I ever told you how much I love you!?

"Oh, no, you never sweet talk me unless you want something," Miyuki tiredly said. She was also trying to make sure that the cake didn't get destroy when Mai was shaking her. After the incident with Kamie, she had intended to just go home. However, she remembered she was holding Marui's cake, and she had also promised Niou that she would be there to watch their practice today. She also wanted to improve herself. She wanted to make sure that every time she had conflict with Kamie, she wouldn't just run home and sulk about it like a girl who just had her first break up.

"No, silly, I just want to thank you for letting me to have lunch with the regulars!" Mai almost ran all those words together because of all the excitements she was feeling at the moment. She still couldn't get over the fact that she had the chance of eating with the regulars. She was basically daydreaming the rest of day after lunchtime.

"Is that all? Look, I didn't even ask them if you can join. Yayguu-sempai invited you, remember?" Miyuki lightly knocked on Mai's head to see if there's anyone in there.

"I know! But he would never have asked me, if you weren't there! Heck, I won't even have a chance to talk to them if you weren't there at the moment!" Mai realized. She continued to fantasize until she saw the cake that was in Miyuki's hand. "Why do you have a cake with you?"

"This? Oh, it's not mine. It's Marui-sempai's. Akaya made me get it for him." Miyuki sighed. "And there he is," Miyuki saw Marui talking to Kirihara. "Be right back." She told Mai before running up to them since Yukimura gave everyone a 5-min break. "Akaya, Marui-sempai!" She yelled.

"Oh, hi, Miyuki," Marui smiled when he saw Miyuki running toward them. "You got my cake, sweet! Thanks!" Marui took the cake from her and started eating it. When he realized Miyuki was looking him, he asked, "You want some?"

"No, it's okay. I…!" Miyuki was cut off when Marui feed her a handful of cake into her mouth. She started to chew and then swallow before replying, "Hm, that's pretty good."

"I knew it! My genius cake never fails!" Marui celebrated his own success.

"I want to try some too!" Kirihara complained and started to fight with Marui to get some of his strawberry cake.

"No way! You don't deserve any! You made poor little Miyuki get it for you!" Marui kept the cake away from Kirihara as far as possible.

"Wait a moment, what do you mean 'poor' and 'little'?" Miyuki asked in disbelief. She was also cleaning her cream covered face.

"No, what I mean was…" Marui tried thinking of some excuse he can use. Before he can think of anything, he heard Yukimura yelling it's time to go back to practice. He silently thanked that the five minutes were up. He quickly pulled Kirihara away telling Miyuki that they have to go.

"Shoot, he got away," Miyuki jokily said. She started to walk toward Mai until she saw a furious Kamie followed by her posse, Chiyoko and Emiko. "Oh, rats," she whispered so that no one could hear her. She was pretty sure that the reason Kamie came here was not to watch Marui's tennis practice, but instead to kill her, since they probably realized the cake that she took was Marui's. She started to look around to find a place to hide. Eventually, she found a giant tree and decided to hide behind it.

"Miyuki, why are you hiding?" Mai curiously asked when she saw her friend panicked for a few seconds and then jumped behind a tree. "Are you playing hide and go seek?" She giggled a little bit, imagining her friend playing such a childish game.

"Shhh! Keep your voice down!" Miyuki whispered while moving her hand up and down to tell Mai to be quiet. "I do not want Kamie to hear!"

"What, I thought you said you're not gonna let Kamie push you around anymore!" Mai surprisingly asked. She had remembered Miyuki said something about being sick of trying to avoid Kamie every time she saw Kamie in the hallway.

"I know, but this is different. I just don't want any trouble. And clearly she wants some," Miyuki angrily said. "Now go, you were never good at being quiet." She pushed Mai away from the tree she's hiding.

"Fine, fine," Mai hastily said. She tried her best not to fall down.

* * *

"I sure hope it won't rain soon," Yukimura worriedly said when he looked up to the sky and saw black clouds covering the whole sky.

"Unfortunately, the chance of a thunderstorm is…" Yanagi stop when a big '_Thud!'_ sound from the sky cut him off. Soon after the thunder, the rain came falling down. "100%."

"Guess we'll have to cancel practice," Sanada walked toward Yukimura and Yanagi while looking up the sky. Even though he won't mind practice in the rain or even a thunderstorm, he thought it was the best decision to keep everyone safe and healthy.

"Yeah, it looks that way," Yukimura agreed seeing how hard and fast the rain was falling down. "Besides, it's not safe to be out in a thunderstorm." Yukimura finally decided. He started to walk toward the middle of the court and yelled, "Everyone, due to the weather condition, practice is cancelled." The crowd was mixed with cheering and mourning when they had heard their captain's decision. "We will still have practice tomorrow morning. See you all tomorrow, and try to be dry as much as possible." As soon as he finished his speech, everyone started to pack and try to leave quickly so they can returned to their warm, dry home soon.

* * *

"Ah! My hair! It's ruined!" Kamie cried when the rain started to fall.

"Oh, no, we got a hair emergency!" Chiyoko panicked looking for something that would keep her friend from being water even more.

"Come on. Let's go to my house to dry off!" Emiko said. Soon after she said that, the trio started to run toward the school gate.

* * *

**Miyuki's Side**

"I sure hope Kamie had left." She poked her head out a little to check to see if the dark hair girl was still there. When she couldn't find Kamie, she concluded that Kamie must had left. "I think I can come out now."

"_Thud!"_

"Ah!" Miyuki yelped covering her ears with her hands. _"Please don't be thunder! Please don't be thunder!"_ She screamed in her head repeatedly. When the sky started drop thousands of rain drop, she knew that a thunderstorm was here.

"_Thud! Thud!'_

As soon as the sky roared again, she crouched down to her knee in fear. She was still covering her ears, so she won't have to hear the thunder. She also kept her eyes shut so she won't have to see the flash of the lightning. She didn't care if she was being completely rain on, she just didn't want to see or hear the lightning.

"_Akaya, where are you!? I need you!"_ Miyuki wished her best friend was here to comfort her just like every other time when there was a thunderstorm. Kirihara usually came to her house as quickly as he could, so he can keep her company during these times. She continued to feel the rain hitting against her body, until there was a shadow over topping her.

"Miyuki? Why are you still doing here?" Marui asked in concern. He had raised his jacket above his head and her shoulder, so Miyuki wouldn't get rain on. He was about to head home when he had heard a noise at the bushes. He was surprised when he had found out it was Miyuki who was creating that noise. "You gonna be sick if you stay here."

Miyuki did not response to him. All she did was just look at him with her watery eyes.

"We… we should go, now," Marui started to panic a little when he realized that those waters weren't rain but tears. He quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her up. He was surprised that when he pulled her, she felt like a lifeless doll. She simply left him hold her up. He then put his club jacket on her shoulder.

_Thud!_

"Ah…!" Miyuki jumped straight into Marui's arms. She continued to cry in his arms.

"Here, wear this," Marui handed her his headphone. "This should help with the noise, at least a little bit. Now, come on, let's go," Marui said waiting for her to put on the headphone. He then turned around so he can carry her on his shoulder. She nodded lightly and let herself to be carried by Marui.

On the way home, they didn't exchange much word. Marui didn't know what to say at this kind of situation, while Miyuki was still frightened by the thunderstorm.

"Let's go to my house, it's closer." Marui decided to say finally. He felt a small movement coming from behind and assumed that she had heard him and agreed.

* * *

"I'm home," Marui yelled when he opened the door. He gently putted Miyuki down at the ground and then took off his shoes. Miyuki simple stood up and followed his example.

"Welcome home, Bunta," Marui's mom smiled welcoming her son home. "Your brothers aren't gonna be home today. They're sleepover at a friend's house to work on a project. Oh, Miyuki, you're here too. What's the matter, dear? You don't look so good." (I'm probably won't give Marui's brothers any name, since they were never given during the anime… Unless you guys have any ideas)

"She's probably just tire. Can you help her dry off, mom?" Marui answered since Miyuki still looked depress.

"Sure, follow me, Miyuki," Marui's mom held out her hand toward Miyuki. Miyuki simply took it and followed her. "Bunta, make sure you dry off yourself!"

"I know!" He yelled and walked into the house.

* * *

"Miyuki, do you want to take a shower first?" Marui's mom asked. "I can go and find some dry clothes for you while you're doing that." She thought of while looking through the drawer. When Miyuki didn't respond, she curiously turned around and found that all Miyuki was doing was just shaking her head quite violently. "I guess you can just change out of your uniform. Here, I hope you don't mind. It's Bunta's, so it'll probably be too big. But that's the only size that would fit you. When you're done, I'll dry your hair, okay?"

"Mmm…" Miyuki responded along with a nod. She grabbed the clothes and headed to the bathroom.

* * *

"I sure hope mom is able to help Miyuki out," Marui wondered. He relaxingly fell onto the couch and turned on the TV. He had taken a quick shower, and decided to change into a simple green T-shirt and a pair of shorts. "At least the thunder is gone. It's only raining now."

_Ring! Ring!_

"I got it, mom!" Marui cried. He slowly got up to get the telephone after the second ring. _"Who can that be?"_ He wondered as he picked up the telephone. "Hello?"

"Marui-sempai! Ismiyukithere?" Kirihara shouted as soon as Marui picked up the phone.

"Akaya, calm down! You are talking way too fast! I didn't understand a single word you just said," Marui kept the phone away from his ear as far as possible. He was positive that Kirihara had pretty much just made his right ear deaf.

"Oh, sorry, Marui-sempai," Kirihara apologized. He took a deep breath before asking again. "Is Miyuki there? I asked Mai and she said that she thought Miyuki had already gone home. But when I called her house, her sister said she wasn't home yet. So I'm calling everyone who knows her."

"Yeah, she is. I took her to my house, since it's closer than hers. Why do you care?" Marui asked. Marui did not understand why Kirihara is treating her like a little kid. And what's even weirder is that Kirihara is worry this much, almost like a mother.

"Why?" Kirihara asked him as if he had asked the stupidest question on earth. "Miyuki is astraphobia! She's afraid of thunder!"

"She is?" Marui realized how stupid he was. She was clearly freaking out by the thunderstorm, and yet he wasn't able to connect those dots.

"Yeah, she developed it when her friend was almost killed by lightning. She probably felt it was her fault since she was the one who gave her friend a metal key right when the storm came. She didn't know any better; she was about five when that happened. And she was right there when that happened too." Kirihara revealed.

"Oh," Marui said quietly. "What can I do to help her now?"

"Well, first, and foremost, make sure she won't hear any loud voice tonight. She'll freak out if there's any sudden loud voice, not just lightning. She feels safer when she is closer to the ground. Don't let her touch any metal, like silverware and stuff. Let see what else?" Kirihara thought. "Oh, if there is still thunder tonight, then give her something to block the sound and vision."

"Alright, got it, thanks, Akaya," Marui remembered all that in his head. He was just about to hang up when Akaya shouted something on the phone. "What was that?"

"Let her stay with you for the night," Kirihara repeated. "Don't let her step a foot outside, at least for tonight."

"Okay, I'll make sure of that." Marui promised. "See you tomorrow then."

"See ya, make sure Miyuki feels safe!" Kirihara reminded him.

* * *

"Don't you look pretty?" Marui tried to light up the mood. Miyuki was wearing one of Marui's T-shirt, which was at least half way to her knees and its sleeves were down to her elbow. She was wearing a pair of shorts under it, but was mostly cover up by the T-shirt. "Do you want to watch some TV?" He handed her the remote.

"N…no, that's okay." Miyuki replied. "I rather have it off." She pushed the off button on the remote. "I should do my homework." She started to look for her back bag.

"Are you sure? If you're not feeling well, you don't have to work or even go to school tomorrow. You can just relax at my house," Marui suggested. He did not want her to push herself too hard.

"I'm okay. I'll get in trouble if I don't do my work," Miyuki said and started to grab her materials from her bag when she finally found it.

"Okay. Then I'll join you."

* * *

"Marui-sempai, are you sure you're okay with going to bed this early?" Miyuki worriedly asked. It was only 9 o'clock. After she was done with her homework and ate some light food, she wanted to go to bed. When she had told Marui that, he decided to go to bed as well.

"Yeah, it's fine. I don't mind sleeping this early," Marui said. He was putting sheets on his room's floor. He told her to sleep in his room, even though his brothers' rooms were empty that night. He want to make sure Miyuki had a companion for the night. "Here, you can take the bed. I'll sleep on the floor."

"Umm…" Miyuki looked at the level up bed. "I should take the floor. It is your house anyway."

"But," Marui was just about to protest when he remembered what Kirihara had told him. _"She feels safer when she is closer to the ground." _"You know what if you really want to; you can sleep on the floor."

"I would like that a lot," Miyuki smiled. "Goodnight, Marui-sempai." She said when she got in the comforter.

"Goodnight, Miyuki," Marui said and turned off the light.

* * *

**That's all folks! **

**Wow, another long chapter... I was going to make it longer, but I then was like no, that's put that in the next chapter, so haha. By the way, I was debting whether to have Marui or Niou comfort her this chapter, but I decided on Marui since Niou already knows one of her childhood problem so yeah. **

**I hope you guys like this chapter! And thank you to everyone who had review, add to alerm, or add to favorite! **

**Please Review XD**


	9. Chapter 9

Hey, guys, I am so sorry for the late update! I was busy these last few weeks and I had writer's block... This chapter may not be as good since I was just trying to get it through... Thank you to Jshae414 for giving me some ideas for this chapter :D

Hope you guys like it!

* * *

"Argh," Marui whined as he slowly woke up when the sun had hit him right in the eyes. He started to groan some more when he realized how stiff he was. "Ah… must have fallen off the bed… again," Marui said tiredly when he saw how far the ceiling was from him. "Guess I should get up," Marui noticed that it was time for him to make breakfast. When he was trying to get up, he felt something around his waist that forced him to stay at the ground. "What the?" Now fully awake, Marui started to look around the room and realized the thing that was holding him were Miyuki's arms.

"Ah…" Marui started to blush a little when he realized she was basically bear-hugging him. "Miyuki, wake up, Miyuki," Marui quietly said and also gently shook her to try to get her to wake up.

Miyuki slowly opened her eyes a little and groaned. "Oh, hi, Marui-sempai, just 5 more minutes, okay?" She then quickly buried her face into his side and continued to sleep.

"Um…" Marui sweat-dropped. He was waiting for her to wake up any minute and be embarrassed by the fact that she was hugging him. That moment, though, never came. This was a bit of a surprised for Marui. He was used to girls, who weren't even fans of his, to be melted even at the mention of his name. _"She sure is different…"_ Marui thought to himself as he stared at Miyuki's face. He decided to let her sleep a little bit more.

After about 5 minutes, Miyuki was finally wake up. "Mm," Miyuki stretched her hands out. "Morning, Marui-sempai," she gave him a cheerful smile. "Wow, this is like the first time I have ever wake up this early," Miyuki shockingly said when she saw the alarm clock. "Do you always wake up this early?"

Marui simply nodded. He actually liked the fact that he got some extra sleep.

"Why are you on the floor anyway? I thought you choose to sleep on the bed." Miyuki asked when she realized he was on the ground with her.

"Oh, I just fall off the bed. That's all," Marui replied. He started to rise up when he knew he had to be awake for real this time. "Well, guess it's time for me to make some bentos and breakfast." He said and started walking toward the door, while missed stepping on Miyuki.

"Wait, how about I do breakfast instead?" Miyuki followed his example and got up.

"You want to?" Marui questioned her as he turned the doorknob.

"Yeah, why not, it'll be a repayment for letting me stay here for the night," she smiled. "Now, where's my uniform?"

"Oh, mom put them in the dryer. They should be in the laundry room," Marui told her.

"And that is where?" Miyuki gave him a questionable look.

"Oh, sorry, forgot about that little detail," Marui scratched his head in embarrassment. "It's the last door to left on this hallway." He pointed to the direction.

"Okay, thanks," Miyuki followed his pointed direction.

After both of them were dress, each of them went on to do their own task. Miyuki was making some french toasts while Marui was heating up some meat to put in the bento. "Marui-sempai, you don't have to make one for me. It's okay; I can just buy something at the lunch stand." Miyuki said when she realized Marui was making two boxes.

"It's okay. Besides, it's a bit late to say that. I already put rice in both of them. See," Marui showed her the lunch boxes to proof his point. "Anyway, is breakfast ready? I'm starving!"

"Yeah, just finish," Miyuki looked at the pan and saw the toasts were golden. She took a large plate and put the toasts on there. After she was done with that, she started to head toward the table. Marui soon followed her with some syrup and powder sugar. After they finished with breakfast, Miyuki helped Marui clean-up and putted the finish touches for the bento. When they were done with that, they grabbed their bags and headed for the door.

"You're not cold? Do you need a jacket?" Marui asked when he saw the weather was a bit cloudy.

Miyuki looked up to sky when he asked her that question. "Do I have to go out there?" She wondered with a hint of worry in it.

"Yeah, you kinda have to if you want to go to school."

"Oh…" She looked down at the ground with disappointment. "Do you think it will rain today?"

"Maybe, but don't worry I'll be there to protect you." He reassured her and putted his hand up to let her held it. "Now, c'mon I'm going to be late to practice if we don't leave soon. And I really don't need an angry Sanada fuku-buchou to start off my day."

"That's true," Miyuki smiled and took his hand. They then hurried to the school. They arrived at the school just about 5 min before the practice started.

"Miyuki!" Kirihara screamed across the court when he saw Marui and Miyuki walked in. "Are you okay? Were you scared? I'm sorry I thought you already went home. If I knew you were still at school, I definitely would have been looking for you." Kirihara shook her shoulders in worried.

"I'm fine. I promise." Miyuki smiled. She held her head for a while because of the dizziness that Kirihara had caused her.

"Oh, good, I was worry." Kirihara happily patted her on the head. "Well, we have to go. We got practice. C'mon Marui-sempai, let's go before Sanada fuku-buchou realizes we are goofing off."

"Good idea," Marui agreed with him. "See ya later, Miyuki."

"Bye-bye," Miyuki waved to them.

* * *

"By the way, how was staying at Marui-sempai's house yesterday?" Kirihara curiously asked as he and Miyuki were walking toward the classroom.

"How did you know that?" Miyuki surprisingly asked.

"I called his house yesterday to check if you were there," Kirihara revealed. "Which you were," he grinned.

"You went to Marui's house yesterday!? No way!" Mai shouted when she overheard their conversation. All people who were in the hallway turned and looked at them when Mai screamed. They then started talking about it amongst themselves.

"Ssssh!" Miyuki grabbed Mai's arm and pulled her to the side. "Quiet down! You want the whole world to hear you?"

"Why not? You went to a regular's house during the week. Alone! That's big!" Mai reasoned with her. "Besides, I thought you could care less what others think of you."

"I don't care about that. But I just saw Kamie and she looked really piss, and knowing this, she will definitely throw a fit… at me." She sighed. "Beside this is the kind of stuff that doesn't need to be spread around."

"She does hate you with a passion," Kirihara popped out of nowhere. He nodded his head and agreed with her.

"Akaya!" Miyuki pinched his ear in anger at the fact that he was eavesdropping on them. "You better not tell anyone either! I really don't want to deal Kamie again!"

"Okay, okay, I won't! Just let go of my ear!" Kirihara begged. When Miyuki let go, he started to rub his ear gently. "I bet it's all red now thanks to you."

"Hm!" Miyuki crossed her arms angrily. "I'm going to class now."

"Wait!" Mai and Kirihara yelled in unison and caught up with her.

"Man, I really hoped Kamie won't hear about this… ever," Miyuki prayed when she opened the classroom door.

* * *

**Lunchtime**

"Finally! Class is over!" Mai stretched her hands up high. "Wow, Miyuki, your lunch looks delicious." Mai praised when she peeked over to see Miyuki's lunch. "Did you do that yourself?"

"I didn't make it. Marui-sempai did." Miyuki answered. Before Mai can say anything, Miyuki stuffed a handful of rice into Mai's mouth. "That is to make sure you don't shout things out like last time." She said when she saw Mai was about to say something.

"Thank you for stopping me," Mai thanked her after finishing chewing on the rice. Miyuki just gave her a light nod of approval.

After they were done eating, Miyuki decided to go Classroom 3B to return Marui's lunch box. "Are you sure you don't need a company? I mean what if Kamie is there?"

"I'll be fine," Miyuki smiled. "I need to face my fear once in a while. And beside I can't trust you to be around the regulars. Don't forget. You embarrassed yourself completely the last time you hang out with them."

"That's only because it was so sudden. Don't have to hold that against me for the rest of my life," Mai defended herself.

"Whatever, see you in a bit," Miyuki waved a goodbye to her. She walked up the stairs and headed toward the classroom. As she was walking about there, she continued to pray that Kamie hadn't hear anything about her staying at Marui's house. She stopped thinking about it when she was face to face with the door to Room 3B. She was about to open the door when someone called out her name.

"Look who do we have here: Miyuki Hayashi," the voice said.

"Yes?" Miyuki asked and turned around to see who was calling her name. Her smile soon disappeared when she realized the person was Kamie and her friend closely followed her.

"Guess what rumor I had been hearing lately?" Chiyoko asked casually.

"What?" Emiko asked going along with Chiyoko.

"That Miyuki stayed at Marui's house last night," Chiyoko answered her.

"Wow, did you heard that, Kamie? How desperate can a person be? She actually made up a lie as big as this one!" Emiko surprisingly said to Kamie.

"Pretty desperate… and pathetic," Kamie glared at Miyuki.

"Okay, so I'm desperate and pathetic. Can I leave now?" Miyuki asked without a care in what they had been saying. _"I wonder if their brains are as thick as bricks, and that's why they can't hear anything I have been saying since I first met them."_ She questioned about it to herself. As she was thinking about it, she tried to open the classroom door again.

"Not so fast," Kamie grabbed onto Miyuki's shoulder. "We need to make sure people like you never make this kind of lie ever again. Do you even consider Marui-sama's feeling when you made up that lie?"

"What's going on here?" Marui asked in surprise as he walked toward them. He and Niou were walking toward the classroom when they saw a group of girls surrounding the door.

"Oh, Marui-sama, I'm so glad you're here. Can you believe the lie she told about you?" Kamie acted innocent pointing at Miyuki. She just gave Kamie a weird look.

"What lie?" Marui asked. He hadn't heard any rumors concerning him lately.

"You haven't hear, Marui?" Niou surprisingly said, since everyone in school pretty much knew about the rumor. "People had been saying that Miyuki stayed at your house yesterday."

"So? It's not a rumor. She did." Marui replied casually putting his hands behind his head. "I brought her to my house, because she…!" Before he can finish his sentence, Miyuki shoved her hand over his mouth.

"Wait, what was that?" Niou putted his hand behind his ear to hear better. "Can you say that again?" Miyuki just gave him a death glare.

"It's nothing!" Miyuki defended herself. "Here's your lunchbox, Marui-sempai. See you guys later."

"What's with her? I was only joking," Niou wondered.

"I'm not sure," Marui agreed with him.

* * *

"Miyuki, are you okay? You look pretty upset after you got back from returning Marui's lunchbox." Mai asked in concern. They were walking toward the school's gate to head toward Miyuki's work place.

"I'm fine." Miyuki gave her a quick, simple answer.

"Okay," Mai said still worry about her friend. "Hey, isn't that Marui-sempai and Niou-sempai?" She pointed at the two people standing against the gate.

"Yeah, so?" Miyuki gave Mai a quick glare.

"Nothing," Mai sweat-dropped.

"Hey, Miyuki," Niou waved. "We've been waiting for you."

Miyuki gave them a cold stare before replying. "Mai, I think it's best if you go on ahead without me."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then," Mai quickly left.

"What do you guys want with me?" Miyuki asked them after Mai had left.

"Why are you upset?" Niou came straight out and asked.

"I'm not upset. I'm just having a bad day, that's all." Miyuki shrugged her shoulders and tried to leave.

"You are upset, Miyuki. We know you long enough to know the difference between a simple bad day and if you are really angry at something." Niou stopped her again. "Now, tell us why did you stop Marui when he was saying something about you staying at his house."

"I… I don't need another reason to appear weak…" Miyuki said not meeting the boys' eyes.

"What do you mean?" Marui asked.

"I'm afraid of thunder." Miyuki finally replied after thinking for a long time. "If people know about it, they'll just look down at me more."

"How would you know that?" Marui asked along with the surprise Niou.

"I just know it," Miyuki said looking like she had just revisited a bad memory. "Just don't tell anyone about it or try to deal Kamie anymore. I can handle this alone."

"Yeah, well, it's a bit too late to say that now," Niou awkwardly scratched his head.

"What did you do?" Marui and Miyuki looked at each other fearfull before asking Niou.


	10. Halloween Special

Hey guys, so this chapter doesn't really have anything to do with the main storyline. I decide to write a Halloween chapter aftering watching one episode of George Lopez. This chapter will mainly focus Niou. But don't worry, for Christmas I'm making it focus on Marui. If you guys have any idea on the Christmas chapter please tell me!

Hope you guys like it!

Please review!

* * *

"Miyuki, Miyuki! What are you gonna dress up for Halloween?" Kirihara eagerly said when he turned around in his chair to ask her.

"I don't know, Akaya. And I'm too old for that kind of stuff," Miyuki said without removing her eyes from her book.

"What? You're never too old for a holiday that hands out candy and you get to dress up as anyone for a day!" Kirihara argued back. "This is like the best holiday ever! Well, beside Christmas since Santa Claus is involved, but Halloween is definitely a close second!"

"Sure, whatever, anyway, since you asked, what are you going to dress up as?" Miyuki asked trying to sound interested.

"I haven't really thought of it. But I'm thinking of living up to my name and dress up as a devil, what do you think?" Kirihara asked.

"I think you alone are already scary enough. You didn't need a costume," a voice joked behind them.

"Ah! Niou-sempai!" Kirihara shouted it after turning around to find Niou walking into their classroom.

"Niou-sempai, what are you doing here?" Miyuki curiously asked finally putted down her book.

"Just thought I would drop by," Niou carelessly said while looking around the classroom as if he was remembering the 8th grade year.

"Yeah, right, the only time you would be here alone is to embarrass me in front of public, Niou-sempai!" Kirihara explained. The only other times Niou would be here were either with Yagyuu to check on how Kirihara was doing on English, or with Marui to see if Kirihara or Miyuki had any sweets.

"Either way I'm not here for you, Akaya," Niou patted Kirihara's head to calm him down. "I'm here to talk to Miyuki."

"Me, why?" Miyuki surprisingly said. Usually the regulars only wanted Kirihara when they wanted a "private talk." She was a bit worry now, since a regular, especially Niou, wanted to talk to her.

"I want to ask you if you want to go to a carnival on Halloween. I know a great place and it's a lot of fun. But it's kinda boring without somebody there with me." Niou explained.

"You scare the death out of me when you wanted to talk me alone." Miyuki let out a deep breathe of relief. "But a carnival sounds a lot of fun. Sure, I would love to go."

"Alright, then I meet you at your house this Wednesday at around 6:30," Niou decided.

"Okay."

* * *

**Miyuki's House – 6:30**

_Ding-Dong_

"Coming," Miyuki shouted as she ran toward the door. She opened the door and found Niou at the other side. "Hi, Niou-sempai, I was afraid you will be late like Akaya always do."

"And I was afraid you wouldn't bother to dress up for Halloween. And boy, I was right," Niou said looking from her head to toes. "Good thing I thought of that. Here, change into this." He pushed a bag of clothes in Miyuki's arms.

"What! Okay, hold on!" Miyuki said hurriedly into the bathroom. After about 5 minutes, she came out dressing as a giant pumpkin. She was wearing a half cut-off pumpkin hat, puffy orange short dress, and black-and-white stripes leggings. "I'm ready. I didn't expect you to have something this cute for costume." Miyuki said when she headed toward the door.

"Well, it is for you, so it doesn't matter if it's my style or not," Niou shrugged his shoulders.

"I see." Miyuki said looking at Niou more closely. She realized now that he was wearing a vampire costume. He had a long black cape with red on the other side, a puffy neck tie, red vest on top of a black, long-sleeved shirt, and black pants. He even had put on fangs.

"Don't worry, I don't drink pumpkin blood. I'm not a vegetarian vampire, pupina," Niou smiled after seeing how focus Miyuki was on his costume.

"That's good to know," Miyuki played along. "Mom, I'm leaving!" She shouted before she closed the door. "Now, where is this carnival?"

"Just follow me," Niou grabbed her hand and started leading her. After about 15 minutes of walking, they finally arrived at their destination. The carnival was covered by thousands of different color lights. There were bunches of different stands in lines just waiting for people to come and play them.

"This looks awesome!" Miyuki said running around to have a better look at the stands. "How in the world did you know this place?"

"My family comes here every year since my brother loves it here," Niou explained. "They should be somewhere around here."

"Oh, okay," Miyuki said half-listening. She was distracted by all the lights that shone upon them. "Shall we go then?"

"Yeah."

* * *

They spent the night playing on different rides. They rode on rollercoasters, tried on different types of "ghost" food, and different types of stand games, such as basketball and throw the hoop.

"That was fun," Miyuki cheered.

"Yeah, way better than doing this with my family," Niou agreed. "Miyuki?" Niou said after realizing she had stopped walking a while ago. "What? You want that?" Niou asked next to her seeing how devoted she was looking at a cat plushy. Miyuki just gave him a simple nod.

"Hi, young lady, do you want to give it a try?" The man-in-charge kindly asked Miyuki handing her a dart arrow. "If you hit the points 1-4 on the dart board, you get to choose these tiny toys. If you hit the point 5-9, you get to choose the toys from the middle stand. And if you're lucky to get a bull's eye, you get the big toys which have the cat you want. So what do you say? 500 yen for 5 darts."

"Yes! I want to try!" Miyuki eagerly said and quickly took out her wallet to hand over 500 yen.

"Can you even throw a dart?" Niou asked when he saw the way she was holding the dart.

"I have thrown it once or twice," Miyuki shrugged her shoulders. "But I want that cat plushy!" She tried to throw it four times, but each time she tried the farther the darts were away from the board.

"Here, gave me that. I can't watch it anymore," Niou finally said when she was about to try her last arrow. When he saw how hesitate she was on giving him the arrow, he asked, "Don't you want the toy?"

"Yes," she answered quickly giving him the dart. She watched him closely to make sure he would hit the bull's eye. Without much effort, he threw the arrow and hit the bull's eye perfectly. "Show off." She whispered under her breathe.

"Do you want it or not, puri?" Niou asked dangling the cat in front of her.

"Sorry, sorry, you're the best dart-thrower ever!" Miyuki quickly apologized. She took the toy and gave Niou a quick hug.

"That's better," Niou smirked. "Now, come on, let's go on more ride."

"Okay. Thank you, mister!" Miyuki turned around and gave the man a wave.

"No prob," the man also waved back to them.

"So where do you want to go now?" Miyuki asked.

"I don't know, huh?" Niou suddenly stopped when a guy popped in front of them.

"Oh, sorry!" the young boy said. "I was trying to catch that balloon for my sister." He pointed to a balloon that had flown up to the tree.

"Well, sorry but I don't think you can get that back anymore," Niou looked up to tree seeing how tall it was.

"I guess so," the boy sighed disappointedly.

"So who are you dress up as?" Miyuki asked looking at the boy. All he was wearing was just a simple black robe and was holding a scythe.

"Me, I'm dress up as the shinigami/grim reaper," the boy answered with a smile.

"You are? Cool," Niou patted the boy's shoulder. "Don't you think, Miyuki?"

"Sure," she said looking a bit guilty for some reasons.

The boy and Niou then started to talk about their own costumes. They talked for a long time without realizing Miyuki had slipped away from them.

"Well, we should be going now. Come on, Miyu-" Niou stopped himself when he couldn't find her. "Wait, where is she? Now, I really need to go. See ya."

"Bye."

"_Great, Miyuki, where are you?"_ Niou thought to himself angrily as he ran around the carnival trying to find her. "I finally found you." He said when he found her hiding behind a great tree. "Why are you crying?" He asked when he heard some stiffing coming out of her.

"I'm not crying." She said whipping her tears away.

"You can't lie to me. I saw your tears already," Niou pointed it out. "What, I thought you were having a great night."

"I was," she argued back.

"Then why are you crying?" he asked again.

"It's because of what that boy dressed up as. It just reminds me about my mom." She answered.

"How does shinigami got to do with anything about your mom?" He asked. He was confused on how in the world these two things related to one another.

"I make me think of how it was my fault that mom died," she said about to cry again. "After my dad's death, mom would always overwork herself. She got sick because she was trying to take care of me. She overdid it for me. It's all my fault!"

"You don't know that," Niou said as he sat down next to her.

"Yes, I do. The doctor says so. He said it's probably because her body was overwork, way pass her limit. And even after that, she still pushes it. It's my fault."

"It's not your fault. You didn't make her overdo it. And besides, she did it, because she loves you enough to do it."

"I wish I could have taken her place," Miyuki sniffed.

"Hey, don't say that!" Niou argued back. "If you die, how do you think we would react? Akaya would be torn in pieces! And I won't know what to do today if you were gone. I only invited you to come because I don't want to spend tonight with anyone but you!"

"I… I don't know. Never really thought of that, I guess I always took granted of you guys. Sorry," Miyuki apologized hugging the cat tighter.

"Don't apologize. It's us who took you for granted," Niou patted her back. "Come on, there's still one more ride we need to go."

"Oh, okay, what ride are we going to?" She got up with him.

"The Ferris Wheel, of course," he said taking her hand to guide her. They waited in line for about 10 minutes, since it was popular ride. "Come on." He helped her up.

"Okay." She smiled. Once they're inside, all they were doing was looking at the outside scenery. "It's so pretty!"

"Yeah," He agreed. After they were two-third through, Miyuki fell asleep on Niou's shoulder. "Guess you're tire."

After the Ferris Wheels went around, Niou carried Miyuki back home since he didn't want to wake up her.

"Thanks, Niou-sempai…" Miyuki sleep talked.

* * *

It's a bit short, because I dont' really know what to write about for Halloween and my eyes are really tired... But I had to finish it since Halloween is in 5 days...


	11. Chapter 10

"Spill it, Niou-sempai, what did you do to Kamie?" Miyuki asked desperately in hope of an answer.

"Yeah, Niou, what did you do? I hope it's not something illegal," Marui prayed knowing his friend very well.

"Okay, come down both of you! It was just a prank, not a crime! And Marui, I haven't done anything illegal yet, so why does every single one of you always thought that I'm going to do something like that? I'm too innocent to do something like that, puri." He sarcastically said the last part.

"Yeah, sure you are," Marui waved his hand up and down to show that he didn't believe a single word Niou just said. "Just answer us."

"Okay, let's see," Niou thought about when he pranked Kamie today. "Oh, it was during break time, and…"

* * *

**Break Time**

"Argh, just look at my hair! It's still a mess from yesterday's rain! This is why I hate the rain." Kamie complained as she looked at herself with a mirror trying to fix her hair. Her hair was a complete mess. It was all poofy. As it turned out, Kamie's hair gets really curly when it's wet and not dried properly. "I can't show myself in front of Marui-sama like this!"

"Maybe you can wear a hat or something to cover it up?" Chiyoko thought of an idea.

"I can't wear a hat in the classroom, stupid!" Kamie scolded her.

"How about tie it to a ponytail or something?" Emiko asked.

"You know that could work!" Kamie said excitedly after that she got out a rubber band and started to tie her hair. "Now, this is more presentable!" She smiled after checking herself when her beloved mirror. "Oh, no!" She cried when the rubber band snapped and her hair was back to its original mess.

"Another hair crisis, I see," Niou said behind them.

"Niou! Didn't expect you to talk to me! What can I do for you?" Kamie started to panic and tried to fix her hair. She wanted to make sure she looked good in front of every regular, not just Marui.

"Yeah, that's because I never wanted to talk to you before…" Niou said under his breathe. "Well, I heard you had a problem with your hair about always frizz up after rain, so I thought I would help with this." He handed Kamie a small bottle.

"What's this?" Kamie said as her friends surrounded her to see what the bottle contained.

"It's a special ingredient that helps hair like yours. It keeps the hair straight and smooth." Niou explained. "My sister used to have a hair like yours, but then we brought her this, and now, her hair is practically perfect."

"Are you sure this is not a prank?" Emiko asked suspiciously.

"Look, would I lie to you?" Niou gave them a face that no girl in this world would be able to say 'no' to. "Just put some of it in your shampoo and your see the result the next day."

"Okay, I'll definitely give it a try tonight!" Kamie cheered not believing Niou had helped her with her problem.

* * *

"Okay, what's in it, really?" Marui asked.

"You'll just have to wait till tomorrow," Niou winked at them to show that it's a secret.

"Well, then if I'm no longer need it here, I'm leaving," Miyuki said as she headed toward the gate.

"Oh, no, you're not. You're watching us practice today," Niou grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Says who?"

"Me. Now, c'mon," Niou said as he grabbed Miyuki by the waist and picked her up.

"Niou-sempai, let me go! I want to go home!" Miyuki shrugged in hope that this would loosen his grip on her. Instead it had the exact opposite effect, Niou simply tighten his grip and started to walk farther and farther away from the gate.

"Come on, Marui, or else I'm telling Sanada fuku-buchou that you're skipping practice… again." Niou warned trying to balance Miyuki on his shoulder.

"Hey!" Marui caught up with him. "Stop telling Sanada fuku-buchou lies about me!"

* * *

**Next Day**

"Haha!" The crowd of people laughed as certain trios were walking down the hallway.

"What's going on?" Miyuki asked Mai trying to push through the crowd so she could see what's going on as well.

"Miyuki, you're not going to believe this! Kamie's hair is bright green!" Mai laughed heartily.

"What?"

"Yeah, look for yourself," Mai moved away to show her. There she was: Kamie walking angrily down the hall with a neon green hair. As for her friends, Emiko and Chiyoko, they were too embarrassed to look at anyone, so they just paid their attentions on the ground.

"_So that's what Niou-sempai 'little prank' was… He sure knows how to ruin a person's life,"_ Miyuki thought.

"Do you have any idea who could possibly done this?" Mai asked her.

"No clue," Miyuki decided to cover for Niou. "Come on, let's go to class." She started to pull Mai away from the crowd.

"And there you have, Marui," Niou swung his hand to show his masterpiece.

"Wow! You sure have ruined her!" Marui said not believing his eyes. "She looks just like a green glow stick!" Niou snicker by his friend's interesting comment. When Kamie realized Marui was looking right at her direction, she embarrassingly raised her backbag to her hair to cover it from him and quickly walked to her seat.

"What are you going to do if Kamie know it's you who did it?" Marui whispered to Niou.

"Nothing, it's not like she has the courage to anything to me, a regular," Niou gave him a quick, simple answer.

"Man, you really thought this through, didn't you?" Marui was impressed.

"Not really, it's not that hard to ruin someone who only cares about the outside appearances. And besides, she is count as the lucky one, since I didn't give her any of my itch cream that could make her eyes all puff out and everything," Niou said the last part with a devious smile.

Before Marui can say anything back to him, the teacher walked in the classroom which signaled the students to quickly take their seats.

* * *

"Niou-kun, I can't believe what you had done that to Kamie-san," Yagyuu lectured Niou. He continued his speech about how it was rude and way over the top. Yagyuu soon stopped himself when he realized that Niou was barely paying any attention towards him. "Niou-kun, are you even listening to me!?"

"Yeah, sure," Niou said distractedly. "Oh, Miyuki!" He yelled across the courtyard when he saw Miyuki was about to leave. "Are you coming to watch us practice today?"

"No, I have to work today," she shouted back since she didn't feel like walking all the way to him. "Maybe tomorrow!"

"Okay!" Niou waved good-bye to her along with Yagyuu. "You know we should go to her restaurant after practice as a surprise."

"You know she would hate that," Yagyuu argued.

"I know, that's why we should go," Niou gave him a devious smile before walking away. "As the matter of fact, the whole team should go. I'm sure she would be so happy that her heart would burst out of joy." He said sarcastically.

* * *

"Miyuki, can you bring the coffee to table four?" A waitress asked. She had long, wavy pink hair that was tied to a ponytail. She had put two clips on her bang so it wouldn't get into her eyes, which were the color of blue.

"Yeah, just let me finish with this order first," Miyuki quickly replied. After school or work time was usually their busiest time, since people like to hang out here for an afternoon tea to forget all their troubles.

After finishing with the orders and bringing table four his coffee, Miyuki started to clean one of the vacant tables. As she was cleaning, she heard a door opened. "Welcome to…" Her smile turned into a frown when she saw the group that had just come in was in fact the Rikkaidai regulars.

"Hey, Miyuki," Niou and Marui said in unison.

"Nanami-sempai, could you take this one. I don't think I can do this one," Miyuki begged.

"No way, you call it, you serve it. That's our policy, remember," Nanami reminded her. The owner decided to create this rule after employees would continuously fight over who get to serve who. "Although, judging from your reaction and the fact that Akaya is here, I'm gonna take that these are the famous Rikkaidai regulars that you had told me so much about." Miyuki just gave her a weak, slow nod.

"Hey, Nanami-sempai," Kirihara waved.

"Hey, Akaya, how's your tennis going?" She asked.

"Great! Still aiming to the top!"

"That's good," She smiled and rubbed Kirihara's head playfully.

"Oh, and these are Yukimura-buchou, Sanada fuku-buchou, Yanagi-sempai, Yagyuu-sempai, Niou-sempai, Marui-semapi, and Jackal-sempai." Kirihara said as he pointed to each other when he said their names.

"Nice to meet you all," Nanami bowed to all of them for courtesy sake.

"It's nice to meet you too," Yukimura replied for all the regulars.

"C'mon, Miyuki, show these nice people their table, or you're going to have to deal with me," Nanami warned her.

"Hey, I like her," Niou whispered to Marui. Even though it was a whisper, Miyuki still heard him and gave him a glare.

"Alright, fine, right this way," Miyuki grumpy said directing them to their tables. She then took their orders, which was an endless argument. Since each one of them was yelling at the same time about what they wanted, Miyuki didn't get a single order down. The fight was finally stopped when Sanada shouted, "Tarundoru!"

"I'll be right back with you guys' orders." She gave them a fake smile. "Goodness, just being here for 5 minutes, and they're already causing a scene." She said underneath her breathe as she walked away. She looked at all the people who were watching the regulars' yelling at each other.

"Hey, again," Nanami walked towards them soon after Miyuki had left.

"Hey, Nanami-san, if you're looking for Miyuki, she just left," Yukimura told her guessing she was looking for the blonde hair girl.

"Thanks, but I don't need her right now. I was actually gonna to talk to you guys about her, that I do not want her to hear," Nanami admitted.

"Why? Do you have some embarrassing secrets about her? Cuz if you do, I'm all ears!" Niou said interestedly.

"You must be the trickster of the team." Nanami concluded. "No, I'm not here to share secrets. Although, I do have some if you're interested. Anyway, I'm here to thank you guys." She said as she took a seat and sat down. She then continued after the regulars gave her a weird look. "After she went to Rikkaidai and met you guys, she started to be cheerful and opened up again. So thank you."

"What do you mean by that?" Yanagi asked now interested by this conversation. He took out his notebook ready to write anything good down.

"At our old school, everyone knows everyone. So everyone knew that Miyuki had lost both of her parents and…" Nanami stopped when Kirihara kept giving her hints about to stop talking. "What is it, Akaya?"

"What do you mean she lost both of her parents?" Yagyuu asked.

"She never told you guys," Nanami was surprise by this. "That girl…" She talked to herself when most of them shook their heads. "Well, now you know. Anyway, everyone pushed her away since her background was a bit different from them. She felt left out and separated. But after deciding to go to the same school as Akaya, and there she met new people who didn't know about her background, so they treated her the same way as they would treat anybody. She finally felt she belonged somewhere. And now every day at work, she always had smile on her face."

"This is definitely new data about her," Yanagi said as he wrote all the main points Nanami had just said.

"Akaya, why didn't you tell us about this?" Jackal asked.

"Well, it's not really my business, and beside Miyuki made me swear not to talk about this, EVER," Kirihara revealed. "And I'm pretty sure she told you not to say it either, Nanami-sempai."

"Yeah, well, true friends should know these things no matter how dark they can be," Nanami defended her reason for telling them this. "She should have told you guys this a long time ago, either way."

"I'm sorry for disrupting, but shouldn't you get back to work, Nanami-san?" Yagyuu asked realizing how long Nanami had been sitting here with them talking.

"Probably should, since Miyuki is coming," Nanami slowly stood up. "Oh, by the way, what are they going to do: fire the owner's daughter for talking too long? I don't think so." She winked as she walked pass Miyuki.

"What were you guys talking about with Nanami-sempai?" Miyuki watched as Nanami walked away from them.

"Nothing," everyone quickly replied and shook their head heavily.

Miyuki gave them a suspicious look while giving each of them their food and drinks. "It never stops amazes me how random you guys can be." She said when she served the last drink, which was Kirihara's.

"Nanami-sempai, what were you and everyone else talking about before I got there?" Miyuki asked Nanami when she found Nanami in the kitchen after the regulars had left. "All of you looked so guilty when I got there."

"Nothing," Nanami said focusing on the beef stew she was making.

"Don't lie. It must be something big to make them look like that," Miyuki took the ladle from Nanami so she would have to look at her in the eyes.

"I told you it's nothing. And give back my ladle, I need it." Nanami said forcedly grabbed the ladle from Miyuki's hand. "Now, go home, I'm done with you for the day."

"Fine."

"Oh, by the way, I have a surprise for you tomorrow. So be prepare anytime of the day, got it?"

"Yeah, I got it." Miyuki said as she packed her things to get ready to go home. She took those words into heart as well, because when Nanami said 'anytime of the day' she meant anytime of the day. Nanami had given Miyuki a surprise birthday present at two o'clock in the morning before.

"Good girl."

* * *

There you go Chapter 10! Thank you to Jshae 14 for helping me find a name for the new character! Please Review!

Happy veteran's day! Please don't forget all their sacrifces so that we may live peacefully! May them rest in peace and God bless their friends and family! Also Happy Marine's day today! Give a hug or just say thanks to them, it really helps! :D


	12. Chapter 11

So glad I was able to update this chapter this week! I hop you guys will like! Please review!

And just in an advance, Happy Thanksgiving! Hope all of you will be thankful for everything God has give us and more!

Have a fantastic 4 or 5 days weekend!

* * *

"Aaah~!" Marui yawned as he and Niou were walking toward their class.

"What's the matter? Didn't get a good night sleep?" Niou asked.

"No, not at all, my brothers kept me up all night with their new video game. And they wouldn't stop bothering me about not telling them Miyuki had spent the night over," Marui explained.

"Man, they sure love her," Niou said putting his hands behind his back.

"Yeah, that's because she would always buy them treats and stuff," Marui blew his bubble big and wide.

"Well, it's your fault too for not giving them any of your sweet, you selfish brat," Niou revealed the other side of this story.

"Hey! I need sweets to have enough energy to play tennis!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Niou said as he pulled his seat away from his desk so he could sit down. "Still you could give a little bit of your sweet to them so they won't bug you as much and often," Niou said the last part right before the teacher came in.

"Alright, good morning, class, please take your seat," the teacher said. "Today, we have a new student in our class, so please be kind to her. Come on in."

"Yes, sir," the girl said as she sled the door open to enter.

"Wha…?" Niou and Marui both said simultaneously not believing what their eyes had seen. The girl that had just entered had long pink hair and blue eyes.

"Nice to meet you everyone, my name is Nanami Shizuoka." She said bowing to them. When she rose up from the bow, she saw two familiar faces. "Ah, Marui and Niou, what a surprise to see you guys! I didn't expect to be in the same class as you two." This sentence, of course, transformed every single girl in the classroom into vicious monsters, especially Kamie (duh!).

"We didn't even think you would be coming to this school," Niou shockingly said.

"Neither did I, but I'm here now, aren't I?" Nanami smiled.

"Alright, save the conversation later. You guys can catch up at your own time, but please do not waste my time," the teacher said.

"Sorry," Nanami apologized.

"Well, since you already know Niou-kun and Marui-kun, why don't you sit right next to Niou-kun?" the teacher instructed. Niou's seat also happened to be in front Marui's seat as well.

"Okay," Nanami said as she started to walk toward the seat next to Niou. As she was walking, Kamie purposely threw her leg out in the aisle, so that Nanami would trip and fall. However, instead of tripping it or dodging it, Nanami simply stepped on Kamie's foot as hard as she possible could.

"Aw!" Kamie whispered loudly so that the teacher wouldn't hear her and be suspicious as to why she had her foot out. When Kamie looked back at Nanami, Nanami simply gave her a cocky grin of satisfaction. _"That evil witch! I'm so going to get her later!"_ Kamie angrily thought.

* * *

"So what's up with all the idiot girls in the class? They looked like all they know what to do is worshipping the ground you regulars walk on," Nanami asked Niou and Marui after class had ended.

"Is it that obvious?" Marui asked.

"Dude, even a blind person can see that!" Nanami said.

"Yep, that's pretty much all the girls around here do. Especially Kamie, she's a real kiss-up. So don't do anything to anger her anymore. She will definitely ruin your life if you do," Niou warned. When Nanami gave him a weird look, Niou continued, "I saw you stepping on Kamie's foot, by the way, nice job aiming at the ankle."

"Thanks, I was hoping it would hurt a lot," Nanami smiled. "And don't' worry, I'm not scare of that Barbie doll. Although right now, she looked more like a green glow stick. Anyway, as a matter of fact, I would love to see her try to ruin my life. It might be a funny act."

"Well, just be careful. She had done some pretty mean things to Miyuki already. Don't want you to end up like that on your first day," Marui warned her as well.

"Is that so…?" Nanami said deep in thought. _"Got to talk to that girl later then." _She decided it in her head. "What kind of bad thing had Kamie done to her so far?"

"Hm… Well, let's see… She had dumped drinks on Miyuki, call her names, spreading secrets about her…" Marui listed. "Is there anything else?" He asked Niou.

"I don't think so…" Niou said after thinking about it for a while. "At least for these last few weeks."

"Well, isn't she a nice girl?" Nanami said sarcastically. "Well, I should go to class now, or else I would probably be late from being lost… I'm horrible at direction after all."

"We can take you. We are in the same class, remember?" Niou reminded her.

"Oh, right, oops," Nanami laughed at her own mistake.

"And besides, we're staying in the same class," Niou revealed.

"Well, thanks for telling me that now!" Nanami said.

"Oh, shoot, I forgot my dictionary. Guess you guys have to go on without me," Marui realized when he searched his bag for the dictionary they need for Classical Literature. (For this story, or this chapter, at least, I'm going to follow Marui's schedule.)

"Really, Marui, again?" Niou can't believe his friend had forgotten his book again. "You have done this at least 10 times this month!"

"Shut up! And it's only 5 times!" Marui yelled across the hall since he had already begun running off to find certain someone to let him borrow his dictionary yet again.

"Who is he going to borrow from?" Nanami asked curiously.

"Probably Yanagi, he always borrows from him," Niou replied. "He's the one with his eyes closed," Niou further explained when he saw Nanami was trying to remember what Yanagi looked like.

"Oh! Gotcha," Nanami smiled finally remembered which one was Yanagi. When they entered the classroom, everyone in there, especially the girls, gave them a stare. "Again with the look…" Nanami shook her head annoyingly.

"Surprise to see you still show up," one of the girls close to them said since she heard Nanami's self-comment. "I thought you would be hiding in the bathroom crying or something."

"Why would you think that?" Nanami asked in confusion.

"Well, after that comment of yours about knowing the regulars, I was sure that Kamie would definitely destroy your life in matter of seconds," the girl explained. "Ah, here comes Kamie! Got to go, or else she'll crush my life!" The girl quickly ran back to her seat to avoid Kamie seeing her having contact with Nanami.

"How could someone as fragile as her ruin everyone who goes to this school's life?" Nanami asked as she looked disgustingly at Kamie walking in.

"It's not the fact that she can beat you up. It's the fact that no matter what or how, she always will find the deepest secret you have and expose it to the whole school to embarrass you," Niou explained. "That's why everyone's afraid of her and her little group."

"Well, isn't she a little sunshine then?"

"Well, for some people she is," Niou said sourly. He further on explaining, "Some of the guys actually like her, so they're usually the one who do favors for her." As he was talking, they saw a boy pulled a chair for Kamie so she could sit down. When Kamie put her hand on the boy's face as gratitude, the boy almost fainted. "And some of them are just too naïve and believe that there's good in everyone, which is what Marui believes in."

"Sucks for him…" Nanami just thought in her head of Marui actually enjoying a conversation with Kamie and her friends. "Isn't your captain like that too?"

"Yukimura-buchou? I don't know about that. But he does look like that, doesn't he?" Niou agreed. "But he's also one of those people who can tell what people are really like with one glance. So I don't really know which side Yukimura-buchou is. I mean he is nice to Kamie, but I think it's just his nature or he feels sorry for her."

"He does have that kind of aura floating around him," Nanami admitted. She had felt that Yukimura would be this kind of person when she first met him.

"Yeah," Niou agreed. He was not surprise that Nanami can guess that since almost everyone who had met Yukimura can feel that. "Too bad Miyuki is like that too…" Niou said absent-minded. "Oops, did I say that out loud?"

"No, I completely agree with you," Nanami laughed. "That's one of her qualities I want to change, very badly. I can't stand that about her."

"Can't say I disagree with you," Niou agreed with her. "Oh, teacher's here better go take my seat," Niou quickly found his seat and sat down. During the class, pretty much no one was paying attention to the teacher. They were either looking out at the window or just zoning out. When it was time for lunch, everyone ran out the classroom to buy the food they wanted before someone else bought it. Instead of buying food, however, Nanami went out for a different reason.

* * *

"I'll be right back, Miyuki, I need to go buy lunch," Kirihara said as he started to leave.

"I thought you were going to bring your own lunch today," Miyuki asked. They were heading toward the roof to eat lunch there since Yukimura had asked Miyuki to look over the plants for this week.

"I was, but I overslept!" Kirihara argued. "Anyway, I need to go before all the good foods are gone!" Not taking a chance of being stop again, Kirihara ran off as if Sanada was angrily chasing after him for being late again.

"Man, he never change, does he?" a voice said behind Miyuki jokingly.

"Nanami-sempai, what are you doing here?" Miyuki asked shockingly.

"I go here now, surprise!" Nanami smiled.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I told you it's a surprise," Nanami said poking Miyuki at the head.

"Right."

"Look who do have here?" Kamie said angrily when she saw Nanami and Miyuki talking together. This only angered Kamie farther than before. She couldn't stand the fact that the two she hated the most are good friends.

"What do you want? I thought I already deal with you this morning," Nanami said disgustingly. "Or do you want to be step on again?"

"Shut up!" Kamie screamed, still mad about that since her ankle still kind of hurts.

"Oh, looks like I hit a nerve. Better leave before I destroy the whole nervous system or wait it's already destroy," Nanami shrugged her shoulders. Not having a good comeback, Kamie stomped her foot and left with her friends. "So what? You're just going to leave me here hanging? How rude!"

"I've never seen anyone handle Kamie that well," Miyuki said in disbelief.

"Call that my people skill," Nanami grinned. "And speaking of Kamie, I'm actually here to talk you about this. Miyuki, you need to start trusting other people besides Akaya and me."

"What are you talking about?" Miyuki said not meeting Nanami's eyes since she knew this was the truth.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Miyuki. You didn't even tell those guys about your childhood."

"They don't need to know that! And what's the point of telling them that to begin with?"

"By telling them that, it means you are willing to trust them. Besides, Akaya and I are not always going to be there when you need us. Akaya wasn't there for you when that thunderstorm was here a few days ago. And I don't even know how bad it was with you and Kamie. You told me some story, but I didn't know it had gone this far!"

"Who told you that?"

"It doesn't matter who, but if you want names: Niou and Marui did. And I'm glad they did. You don't have to do all this alone, you know." Nanami said calming down now.

"I don't want them to get involve. It's my problem not theirs," Miyuki finally admitted.

"And I thought I told you if you ever need anything, we'll always be there to help you."

"Niou-sempai, Marui-sempai!"

"Thanks for following me, you guys," Nanami said sarcastically.

"No prob!" Marui said innocently. "But Niou's right we're always going to be there for you. It makes us more worry if you're upset and you don't tell us why."

"Thanks guys."

"So are you better now? Going to trust more people now," Nanami putted a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, I'll try, I guess," Miyuki smiled. "Since you people won't stop bugging me about it and I don't want to worry you guys anymore."

"Good girl," Nanami patted her head. "Now, come on, who wants lunch? I'm starving!"

"Me!" Niou and Marui said in unison.

"I'll join you in a minute. I need to wait for Akaya," Miyuki said. "I'll see you guys at the rooftop."

"Okay."


	13. Christmas Chapter

**Hey, guys, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I'm so sorry for this late update. I have been so busy these last few weeks. There were so many quizzes and tests in my school right before Christmas...**

**I hope you guys will like this chapter! I actually thought of this one way before the Halloween Chapter, and that's why this one is longer and more organized.**

**Anyway, on to the story! Please review!**

* * *

"Alright, 20 laps more and we'll call it a day," Miyuki heard Yukimura said outside of the tennis club changing room. She decided to stay after school to put a Christmas tree in the boy's tennis club dressing room. After she put it, she thought she might as well decorate it.

"The boys would never have the time to decorate you," Miyuki smiled putting on some red ribbons on the Christmas tree. She grabbed some ornaments that had the colors of Rikkaidai and put them on the Christmas tree. She also put some angels and a star on top of the tree. "You look so beautiful! I'm sure everyone will like you!" She looked at her finished tree. The tree had red ribbons from top to bottom, lights surrounding the tree, the white fluffy things that looked like snow, and some golden strings threw over the tree.

"Wow, doesn't that look pretty?" a voice whistled when he opened the door. "Great job, Miyuki!"

"Thanks, Marui-sempai," Miyuki grinned at the green apple bubble blowing boy. "You guys are out early today."

"Yeah, it's a Christmas gift from Yukimura-buchou," Kirihara cheered walking in the changing room. "Wow, you didn't lie when you said you'll make this a winter wonderland." Kirihara looked around. The room is decorated with poinsettias, wreaths hanging on the window, and some fake snow on the ground. There was a huge Santa at the corner accompanied with some elves and of course the tree, she was so proud of.

"Well done, Miyuki," Yukimura said when he walked in the room along with the rest of the regulars.

"Thanks, I had a lot of time since you guys' practice is so long," Miyuki laughed.

"Although, according to my data about half the time, you were goofy off," Yanagi calmly said.

"Eh…" Miyuki sweat dropped not knowing how to response to that since it was the truth.

"Hm…" Niou sounded as he looked around the room. "There's something missing. Where's the mistletoe?" As soon as Marui heard that, he gave Niou a death glare, knowing full well that he only wanted the mistletoe so he can have an excuse for kissing Miyuki.

"Niou!" Sanada screamed, angered by the fact that Niou would ask something as childish as that.

"You do realize that this is a boy's changing room, right? Particularly, no girl would enter this room." Miyuki said in confuse since she didn't understand why Niou would want a mistletoe in the room. "Well, maybe except me, but…"

"That's right we don't need it," Marui cheerfully said. He was relieved that she disagreed with Niou. He wanted her first kiss to be share with him and because she liked him not because of some mistletoe excuse.

"Alright, off that topic," Yukimura smiled ordering them to stop. "Just a reminder, you all need to buy a gift for one person and we'll gather on Christmas Eve to exchange gifts." Yukimura reminded everyone. "Miyuki, you should join too."

"That's okay. I'm not a regular or a boy, so it might be a bit weird," Miyuki waved it off.

"It's fine. It'll be more fun with you at the party," Yagyuu reassured her. "Besides, it'll be a repayment for decorating the room so well."

"Thanks, Yagyuu-sempai," Miyuki happily thanked him. "Okay, I'll go if no one had any problem with it!" Right after she said that, all the regulars shook their head violently to show that they had no problem with her going to the party.

"Well, I should leave, so you guys can change," Miyuki said when she realized that all the regulars were still wearing their uniform and the fact that this was their changing room. "Akaya, I'll wait for you outside, okay?"

"Okay, keep yourself warm! It's getting cold around here!" Kirihara warned her as he started to pull his shirt off.

"I know! And can't you wait till I'm out of the room to start changing?" Miyuki shouted and grabbed a towel to throw at him. She then opened the door and left quickly.

* * *

"Akaya, you're done already?" Miyuki stood up when she saw the door opened. "Eh, Marui-sempai, sorry, I thought you were Akaya." Miyuki stick her tongue when she realized it was Marui not Kirihara. She was surprised that he was the first one to leave, since Kirihara always the first one to leave because he wanted to go and get some ramen to eat.

"I want to talk to you before you leave, so I had to beat Akaya," Marui replied as he blew his bubble wide and big. "C'mon, let's go somewhere private!" Marui grabbed her hands and took her to a tree at the corner. He doesn't really care about being private or not; he just wanted to make sure Niou wouldn't hear a single word of it.

"Private? It's private enough here! No one's out here yet!" Miyuki confusingly asked. "Okay, so what do you want to talk about that is so private we need to be here?" She asked when they had stop.

"Would you like to go shopping with me this weekend," Marui casually asked putting his hands in his pocket for warmth. "You know, to help me decide what to gift to buy."

"It's that all. Of course I'll go with you," Miyuki closed her eyes for a smile.

"Alright!" Marui cheered. "So let's meet up at the subway station about noon on Saturday, okay?"

"That's fine," Miyuki agreed. They then heard Kirihara's voice calling for Miyuki, wondering where she went. "I should go. Akaya is looking for me. Bye-bye, Marui-sempai, see you Saturday!"

"Bye-bye," Marui waved her a goodbye.

* * *

"Sorry, for being late, Marui-sempai, were you waiting long?" Miyuki hustled toward Marui. It was about 12:15 when she arrived. She had told her mom about being there at 12, but Mrs. Hayashi kept her up with trying to fix her hair.

"No, I just got here," Marui lied. He was actually here 30 minutes early, because he was so excited about today that he couldn't wait. He looked closely at Miyuki's outfit. She was wearing a light yellowish jacket that had pink fluff from her neck and down to her chest to form a V-shape and a pink ribbon around her stomach. She wore dark pink skirt that is half-way to her knee. She also had pink gloves on and pale green scarf. She had long socks up to her knee and a pair of brown boots below it. The end of her hair is curl up and on top of her head she wore a gray knitted hat. _"She looked adorable…"_ Marui thought blushing a little. "You're not going to be cold in that are you?" Marui pointed to her skirt, so Miyuki wouldn't realize he was blushing.

"You know a girl had to make some sacrifices to look pretty," Miyuki smiled, clearly looking a bit cold. "At least, that's what my mom said. She's the one who made me dress like this. As soon as I told her that I'm going out with a boy from school who is not Akaya, she started to freak out saying it's my first date and told me to wear something good."

"Oh," Marui secretly thanked Mrs. Hayashi for forcing her to dress something like this. "C'mon, let's go inside the station to get some warm." Marui said running toward the station.

"That's a good idea," Miyuki rubbed her forearms for warmth. She ran to catch up with him.

"I'll get us some hot chocolate, okay?" Marui thought of an idea the second they walked in the station. "Wait here."

"Okay, I'll go buy some tickets then," Miyuki yelled after him. She looked around the station for a while, and was surprised by the fact that there were so many people here who wanted to go somewhere. There were more people here than during rush hours. "Guess everyone is doing their Christmas shopping this week." After she's done looking around the place, she started to head toward the ticket machine. She looked for the price of the place they're going to. (I don't know where so I'm just going to call it the place, so…)

"Let's see… two people is 400 yen for return trip," Miyuki looked carefully. She put in the slot 400 yen and waited for the token to come down. As she was waiting, she felt something warm pressed against her check. "Ah," She surprisingly yelled. She looked at the direction where the warmth was coming from and touched her now warm check. "Marui-sempai, why did you do that?"

"I thought it might be fun," Marui gave Miyuki her hot chocolate and grinned. "I thought I told you to wait. Why did you run off like that?"

"Thanks," Miyuki took the hot coco off his hand. "I told you I was going to buy the tickets. See," She took the tickets from the machine and showed them to him.

"Oh, well, we better get in line then," Marui patted her head.

* * *

**Subway**

"I hope it'll snow soon. Don't you, Marui-sempai?" Miyuki excitedly asked, kicking her legs back and forth like a little kid. They were lucky enough to find two seats when they entered the subway. Everywhere is overcrowded. Just like Miyuki predicted, everyone is going to do their Christmas shopping today.

"Of course, I do," Marui grinned. "Snow is what makes Christmas perfect!"

"I'm so glad someone agreed with me!" Miyuki cheered. "I always told that to my family, but they told me stop being so childish."

"There's nothing childish about wanting to have a little snow. Especially around here, since it doesn't usually snow around here," Marui patted her head to comfort her. (Kanagawa apparently doesn't snow much, and that's where Marui lived)

"That's true," Miyuki happily agreed clearing gotten over the memory of her family's speech to her. She then saw an old lady standing weakly being pushed other people. "Hey, old lady, do you need a seat? You can have this one if you want," she stood up offering her seat.

"Why, thank you, young lady," the old lady gently smiled taking her offer.

"Miyuki, what about you then?" Marui asked.

"I'll just stand. It's okay," Miyuki grabbed onto a hook.

"Then let's go somewhere else. Let's see if we can find a place that's less crowded," Marui stood up as well. He then grabbed her hand and started to walk through crowd of people. He grabbed it firmly, making sure that he won't lose Miyuki in these crowds.

Miyuki just followed him quietly. She was a bit nervous walking through that many people, but she felt protected in Marui's hand. "Ah!" Miyuki surprisingly shouted. She felt a hard push behind her that forced her to fall forward. She was waiting for the impact of hitting the ground, but it never came. All she felt were two strong arms holding her and something hard against her face and body.

"You okay, Miyuki?" Marui caught her in surprise. He had turned around to check on her as soon as she shouted behind him.

"Yeah, thanks," Miyuki shockingly said. She was glad that he had caught her, so she didn't embarrass herself in front of that many people.

"I'm sorry," the guy who bumped Miyuki apologized. "Hey, cutie, you okay?" The guy immediately hit on Miyuki as soon as he took a close look at her. "My name is Daisuke. What's your name, beautiful?" He winked at her. He had dark spiky brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a long blue jacket with black pants.

"Umm…" Miyuki uncomfortably closed in toward Marui. He can clearly felt that she was pressure. She had always hated people who are players.

"Her name is Miyuki, and sorry, she's taken," Marui answered for her.

"What? By who?" Daisuke angrily asked.

"Me, of course," Marui easily replied as he pulled Miyuki closer toward his body. "Why else would I hold her for so long and closely?" He purposely showed Daisuke that he had his arms wrapped around her waist. "Well, see you later," Marui waved him a goodbye when he saw how disappointed Daisuke had looked. He then started to guide Miyuki through the crowd again.

"Marui-sempai, why did you lie to him that we are dating?" Miyuki asked still blushing a little bit, surprised by his sudden act.

"Huh? Why wouldn't I? If I didn't say that, he would never leave you alone!" Marui replied to her with a wink and a blow up bubble.

"That's probably true," Miyuki thought for a little bit. "Well, then thank you, Marui-sempai."

"No prob!"

* * *

**Shopping Mall**

"Wow, the mall looks so festive!" Miyuki's eyes shone brightly at the sights of all the lights and glimmer that were put on each different store. "Marui-sempai, we should go here and then there and…"

"Wait, Miyuki, don't forget that we are here to find gifts for the Christmas party," Marui reminded her.

"Oh, right, sorry, I got so excited that I forgot the reason why we even came here in the first place," Miyuki scratched her head in embarrassment. "But could we at least go to that store?" Miyuki pointed to a costume store where every single person who had come out of there was wearing different Christmas theme clothes.

"Sure, but why do you want to go there?"

"Just cuz, now c'mon," Miyuki started to grab his hand and drag him toward the store. "Here, try this on!" Miyuki threw him a Santa costume and started to push him into a changing room. "Meet you back here in 10 minutes!"

"Okay, okay," Marui surprised that Miyuki was this excited just being in a mall like this. It was like it's the first time she was celebrating Christmas. In the end, Marui changed into his Santa outfit in less than 10 minutes and was now looking for Miyuki. "I hope she didn't run to another store due to the lights and everything."

"Santa, I'm ready to go!" A voice said behind Marui. When Marui turned to check who had spoken to him, he found a full body suit of reindeer Miyuki. "Hehe, what do you think?"

"I think it's cute," Marui admitted.

"Thanks, you look great too! Now c'mon, I just talk to a worker here and he said he would be happy to take a picture of us dressing up like this!" Miyuki grabbed him and started to go through a sea of people.

"Okay," Marui followed. After finding the worker who had spoken with Miyuki, he was happily to take a few pictures of Marui and Miyuki or Santa and his reindeer.

* * *

"That was so much fun!" Miyuki cheered as she sat down in a chair inside of a café. They decided to have a snack after they had finished shopping for the Christmas party and some stuffs for their families as well.

"Yeah, that was," Marui agreed, surprised at the fact that he actually enjoyed this shopping trip. Every time he had gone shopping with his family, it was nothing but his brothers' screaming and yelling about wanting to go to different stores.

After the waitress came and took their orders, they started to talk about what different kinds of resolutions they have for the year that was to come. Although most of them were made-up, due to the fact that they didn't really think about it until now. After that the waitress returned with their orders.

"I'll be right back, I need to use the restroom," Marui said after finishing his food and started to head toward the men's bathroom.

"Okay, then I'm gonna do more look around," Miyuki said. After seeing Marui left, Miyuki got up and started to look through the stores that were close to the café. She wanted to get something just for Marui as a thank-you gift for taking her to the mall today. "Sport store, I'm sure whatever I buy from here he's gonna like it." Miyuki decided after walking around for a bit. In the end, she chose to buy a tape wrap for tennis racket, since Marui was telling Kirihara and her about how he just used his last bits of it a few days ago.

"Thank you, please come again," a cashier said as she handed Miyuki the bag containing the tape wrap.

"Thanks."

"Ew, why do I always have to run into you everywhere I go? Can't I take a break from you even during Christmas?" a voice said to Miyuki.

"Oh, hey, Kamie," Miyuki said when she looked up and found Kamie staring right at her. "Are you doing some Christmas shopping too?"

"Don't talk to me like we are friends! I don't like you," Kamie said disgustingly. "Why are you here anyway? You don't play any sports in the school."

"Well, neither does you, but you're here," Miyuki innocently said not meaning to say it in any harsh way. Although in Kamie's ears, they were sharp daggers that were hitting her body. "Either way, it's not for me, it's for Marui-sempai to thank him for taking me shopping today." Miyuki looked at her bag, not realizing she had just said the worst thing she could possibly have to Kamie. "What's the matter?"

"You're… what?" Kamie said angrily trying to maintain herself from strangling the girl in front of her. After a few seconds though, Kamie started to laugh to herself heartily (a bit insanely too…).

"What's wrong?"

"I got it now," Kamie finally let out those words after taking a deep breathe to calm herself down. Miyuki, though, continued to give her a weird stare along with a few of the costumers who were walking by listening to her laughter. "Marui-sama must felt sorry for you since you'll probably be all alone for Christmas. I'm sure that's the case since no one care about you, and Marui-sama, as a big-kind-hearted man as he is, must have known that and that's why he decided to share some moments with you. Although, I'm sure it was a torture for him to be stuck with you for this long."

Through this entire time, Miyuki grabbed her bag tightly. She couldn't even look at Kamie's eyes. All she was looking at was the ground.

"What's the matter? Does the truth hurt? Quit being so illusional, not everything is sugar and rainbow like you wish they are," Kamie laughed.

"Miyuki?"

"Ah, Marui-sama! It's great to see you!" Kamie had a complete change of mood in less than a millisecond.

"Miyuki, I have been looking for you. Man, when you said you were going to look at some store, you weren't kidding. Why are you in this store anyway?" Marui asked without paying any attention to Kamie.

"… No reason," Miyuki said in a whisper. After she said that, she ran out of the store.

"Miyuki!" Marui was going to go after her when he realized Kamie was standing there the entire time. "Kamie, what did you do to her?"

"Nothing, nothing, nothing had happened. I didn't say anything bad to her!"

"Kamie, tell me the truth. I know you're lying."

"Well, all I told her was the truth about how you were only hanging out with her because you felt sorry for her and what not," Kamie revealed, not able to lie to the guy she has a crush on.

"Kamie, the only person I feel sorry for is you," Marui said quietly with a hint of anger. "I thought everyone has at least some good in them, but I guess I was wrong." Marui said right before running off the store to find Miyuki.

"Marui-sama…"

* * *

"_Dang it, where did you go, Miyuki?"_ Marui thought as he looked left and right of the mall and every inches of it to find Miyuki. He finally found her sitting in a bench next to a fountain. "Miyuki, I finally found you."

"Marui-sempai," Miyuki stood up in surprise. "Sorry for running off like that, I guess I'm always gonna be a chicken when facing Kamie."

"No, you're not. You're just like me who think everyone has some good in them, that's all," Marui explained. "And by the way, you know I didn't ask you because I felt sorry for you, right? I love hanging out with you."

"It's not that." Miyuki shook her head. "It's the fact that she was right about how lonely I am during Christmas. Mom is always out helping with charity and dad is always at work during the holidays. And Roy and Lucy are always in their rooms doing their own things."

"Oh," Marui came to a realization that this was the reason why Miyuki was so excited to come to the mall and look at all these lights. "Miyuki…"

"It's okay. I'm used to it by now anyway," Miyuki cut him off while giving him a fake smile. "It doesn't bother me anymore. Although, it would be nice to be a family once in a while."

"But Miyuki…" Marui said before looking outside the window. "Miyuki, look, look at the window, it's snowing!" Marui dragged her towards the window to look at the white fluffs that were falling from the sky.

"You're right!"

"You know what, Miyuki; I don't mind spending Christmas with you if you ever get lonely or something. I will be there every time," Marui promised.

"Thanks, Marui-sempai!"


	14. Chapter 12

**Sorry for the late update! I was going to post this last weekend, but I had final last week so I had to study... :( But now I'm done with final, so I'm back! Although, I have club and musicial coming up for the next two weeks... So I don't know when I'll update again. I hope it'll be soon though :)**

**Anyway, hope you guys will like this chapter and please review! :D Thank you all for reading, reviewing, following, and favorite the story!**

**Please Read This (at least)**

**As I continue to write, I'm starting to realize that Nanami's personality is more similar to Niou's than Miyuki's... So I was wondering if you guys are okay with Nanami ends with Niou instead of maybe Miyuki. I know the story was suppose to be NiouxOCxMarui. But I was wondering if this is okay... Please review or PM me to tell me what you guys think. Again this is completely up to you, readers, to decide so please tell me what you guys think! Thank you :)**

* * *

"Miyuki, get out of bed already! Akaya will be here soon! You said you were going to the amusement park with him today!" Mrs. Hayashi yelled from downstairs of their house.

"Shoot, I forgot about promising Akaya to take him and Marui-sempai to the amusement park," Miyuki thought pulling the sheets of her bed higher up to cover her face.

* * *

**At School**

"Miyuki! Miyuki! Why didn't you tell me you went to amusement park with Niou-sempai (during the Halloween chapter)?" Kirihara angrily asked running toward Miyuki.

"I only went because Niou-sempai asked me," Miyuki replied tiredly.

"Well, then you need to take me too!" Kirihara yelled.

"Why? You're not a little kid anymore. You don't need supervision," Miyuki asked in disbelief. "Especially not my supervision."

"'Cause mom says it's okay for me to go anywhere with you. She says you're responsible," Kirihara gave her a huge smile. Miyuki was left speechless by the reason of him and his mother, although it is true that Akaya was probably the world's least responsible person.

"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Marui asked as he walked in their conversation along with Niou.

"Hey, Niou-sempai, Marui-sempai," Kirihara waved to them, "Guess what Miyuki is taking me to an amusement park this weekend!"

"Don't decide that by yourself!"

"What?" Marui asked in shock. "I want to go to! Can I?"

"Why not? It doesn't hurt to have more people, right Miyuki?" Kirihara asked while giving her a pair of huge please-eyes.

"I give. Do whatever you want. I'm going back to the classroom, see you later," Miyuki left since the conversation was in complete control by Kirihara and Marui.

* * *

"Man, why did I agree to Akaya about taking him and Marui-sempai to the amusement park…?" Miyuki questioned herself. She was not feeling well throughout the entire week. The last thing she wanted was having her weekend taken away from her (which it did…). "Maybe I should just call and cancel it." As soon as she decided to cancel it, Miyuki took her cell phone and called Kirihara. She told him that she was sick and that she couldn't keep their promise.

"Sorry I can't make it, Akaya. Maybe next week, okay?" Miyuki apologized.

"Yeah, I guess. You sure you'll be okay today then?" Kirihara asked to make sure she's okay.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. But could you tell this to Marui-sempai? I'm too tired to have another phone call," Miyuki said.

"Sure."

"Thanks, see you later."

"See ya."

"Miyuki, why are you still in bed?" Mrs. Hayashi opened Miyuki's door to check on her.

"Oh, I'm not feeling well, so I'm thinking of staying in bed all day," Miyuki admitted.

"Oh, you are? That's terrible. No wonder you don't look too well yesterday. Do you want me to stay at home with you then?" Mrs. Hayashi asked in worry.

"No, that's okay. Go to your meeting."

"Okay, then I'll go to grocery store afterward to buy some cold medicine. Do you want anything else?"

"No, cold medicine will be just fine."

"Okay, then I'll be back about 3 hours, okay?"

"Okay, see you then." Miyuki waved her a quick goodbye and soon fell into a deep sleep.

"Miyuki, Miyuki, are you awake?" a voice asked Miyuki.

"Roy, get out of here," Miyuki said as she slowly opened her eyes. "Ah!" Miyuki shouted in surprise while falling off her bed due to the shock of seeing who was calling her name to wake up. "Ow… Marui-sempai, Niou-sempai, what are you guys doing here?"

"Hi, Miyuki, are you okay?" Marui asked as he ran up to Miyuki to check on her.

"I'm fine, but why are you guys here?" Miyuki asked again seeking for an answer.

"Akaya texted Marui saying you were sick while I was happen to be standing right next to him, so we decided to check on you," Niou answered.

"And your mom let us in before she left so you know, here we are," Marui blew his bubble nice and wide.

"_Dang it, mom, I'll get you for that later…" _Miyuki thought angrily. "Then get comfortable, I guess. I don't care what you guys do, but just let me sleep in peace." She pleaded to the two boys.

"Okay," the two boys promised. However, after less than 5 minutes, both of them got really bored.

"I'm bore," Marui finally said.

"Join the club," Niou sarcastically said. "What do you want to do then?"

"I don't know. I never really been to Miyuki's house, so I wouldn't know what is in her house," Marui said after giving that question a thought.

"Miyuki, do you have an extra USB? I ran out memories in mine and I need to save a document," Miyuki's sister asked as she opened the door looking closely at her full USB. "Oh, I didn't know there're guests." She was surprised in seeing instead of her annoyed sister, for opening the door without knocking again, but two junior high boys.

"Hi, you must be Miyuki's sister, Sora. I'm Marui."

"And I'm Niou."

"I see, and you know my sister… how?

"We are friends with Akaya."

"That explains it. Well, sorry to disturb you guys with whatever you guys were doing. I'll just ask her when she's conscious." Sora decided to use those words after seeing her sister sleeping soundly on her bed.

"Wait!" Niou called her back. Sora quickly stopped her pace and looked back. "Can you tell us if there's anything we can do? We are bore out of our minds right now."

"Oh, is that it?" Sora not surprised that people are bored in Miyuki's room. Nothing really exciting went on in there. "There's a Wii downstairs in the living room. Akaya insisted us to buy it every time he comes to our house, so we finally gave in and brought it."

"Thanks for the info. Alright, let's go downstairs then," Niou said as he stood up ready to go.

"But we can't just leave Miyuki all alone here," Marui said looking at Miyuki, who had started to cough.

"Easy, we'll just bring her down with us," Niou walked to Miyuki's bed and picked her up to his left shoulder. "See, easy solve," Niou smiled when they got to downstairs.

"Yeah, but Miyuki said not to wake her," Marui reminded him.

"Well, does she look awake?" Niou questioned him as he put Miyuki down on a couch. "I didn't think so." Niou smirked when Marui got nothing to come back. "Now, come on, let's see what kind of games they got."

"Okay," Marui agreed. They then pulled out the Wii console and the video games that go along with it. They quickly started a search for the game they wanted to play. As they searched for the right game, they both sweat-dropped when they saw a basket of fighting games labeled: Akaya's Games.

"Only you, Akaya, only you…" Marui and Niou both thought. In the end, they decided to play one of Akaya's fighting games. Niou decided to sit on a single chair while Marui sat right next to Miyuki. Once the console was done loading the game, they started the fight.

"Marui, what are you doing? You didn't even move during the last fight," Niou questioned Marui after he quickly dismantled Marui's character.

"Um… I can't exactly move right now…" Marui admitted. Niou gave him a weird look when he said that. Niou then saw that Miyuki had slide down to Marui's shoulder, thus making him immobile from using one of his shoulders.

"Just push her to the other side of the couch," Niou suggested. "Unless, you actually like this."

"What? N… no way…!" Marui started to blush.

"Sure," Niou said clearly not buying it. "Well, if you're not going to play the game, then I'm playing single, puri," Niou walked over to Marui and grab his controller to disconnect it.

"Fine," Marui pouted but he had to admit he was happy that he and Miyuki got to stay like this. After about hours of playing, both Marui and Niou fell asleep and Miyuki, in turn, woke up.

"Mm," Miyuki rubbed her eyes as she slowly awoke from her slumber. "Why am I in the living room?" She looked around and found everything around her was not supposed to be in her room. She then saw Marui and Niou. "I bet it's their fault. Oh, well," she shrugged her shoulders and then got up and grabbed some blankets to put on the regulars. _"Might as well make sure they won't catch a cold,"_ Miyuki decided. She laid one on Marui and was about to lay the other one on Niou when the boy suddenly grab her hand and pull her a few inches away from his face. "Eh?"

"What are you doing? You are supposed to be in bed," Niou said.

"I was until you guys brought me down here," Miyuki argued. "Besides I'm making sure guys don't get cold."

"You're not my mom," Niou said as he pushed Miyuki back up and sat himself straight up. "And you should be the one with the blanket." He then threw the cover that Miyuki had intended for him back at her.

"I don't need it now. I'm not tired anymore," Miyuki threw it on the couch. "Thanks to you guys."

"Hey, we didn't do anything to wake you up," Niou argued. "You were asleep as a baby when I brought you down here."

Before Miyuki could reply, there was a jiggle at the front doorknob. "My, Miyuki, I didn't suspect you to be up! I thought you would be still sleeping," Mrs. Hayashi shockingly said when she opened the door to find her daughter right in the center of the living room.

"I just got up, actually."

"I see."

"Let me help you with those bags," Niou decided to help Mrs. Hayashi once he saw how much struggle she was having trying to bring in all the groceries into the house.

"Why, thank you," Mrs. Hayashi surprised by the young lad's action, since Roy, her son, never helped her with the groceries voluntarily. "Why don't you two stay for dinner? I mean it's kind of late and it'll be a repayment for taking care of my daughter for the afternoon."

"Sure, we'll be happy to, right Marui?" Niou asked as he grabbed one of the cereal boxes and threw at Marui's head with perfect aim.

"Aw!" Marui shouted as he rubbed his head in pain. "What in the world?" He asked when he looked at the item that had caused him the pain. "Niou!"

"Puri."

"Ha ha," Mrs. Hayashi laughed at the argument between the two boys. "Dinner will be ready in about 30 minutes." She told them. "And Miyuki, I want you to take the cold medicine right now."

"Dang it, I hate the cold medicine. They taste so awful!" Miyuki whined.

"Drink it now or no dinner for you later," Mrs. Hayashi warned.

"Yes, ma'am," Miyuki sighed. She then took the appropriate amount of cold medicine. "Bleh! That is so foul!"

For dinner, Mrs. Hayashi made curry since it was Miyuki's favorite. After dinner, Marui and Niou stayed for a bit longer to play video game with the whole family (since Sora was done with her homework and there was no teenage crisis, she was able to play with them and Mrs. Hayashi forced Roy into playing with them instead of burying himself with books like most nights).

"That was a great dinner!" Marui smiled still tasting the curry in his mouth.

"Yeah, thanks for making it," Niou agreed with him.

"No problem. Thank you for taking care Miyuki for today."

"It was nothing. Well, hope you'll be well enough to be at school on Monday, Miyuki."

"See you later. Hope you'll be better soon."

"Thanks. Bye, Marui-sempai, Niou-sempai."

* * *

**Just as a side-note, this chapter is actually the first thought I had about this story. It was because of this plot that 'cause me to write this story, haha. So I guess you can say this is an important chapter :P**

**Happy a day late Martin Lurther King Jr. Day! Praise for the beliefs he had and how he change the society! :D**


	15. Chapter 13

"Miyuki, guess your Saturday party was still going on Sunday, huh?" Nanami asked as she entered Miyuki's classroom and started to walk toward her desk.

"What do you mean?" Miyuki asked confusingly obviously didn't understand the meaning of her question.

"You didn't come to work yesterday," Nanami reminded Miyuki as she put her hand on Miyuki's desk. "And you promised you would on Friday."

"What? I did!?" said Miyuki in shock. "Ah, shoot, I did say that, didn't I?" Miyuki slapped herself on the cheek when she remembered the promise she had made with the pink-haired girl to help out the restaurant Sunday night. "I'm really sorry that I forgot about it."

"Don't mind about it. It was no biggie. The restaurant survived without you, anyway," Nanami shrugged her shoulders. "So what happened? It's not you to forget…" Nanami paused herself to think about what she was just about to say before continuing, "Wait, never mind, you **always** forget promises."

"I do not!" Miyuki stood up slightly angered by Nanami's accusation. "Oh, wait, yes, I do…" Miyuki slowly sat down in shame when she remembered all those times when she had failed to remember different promised she had made with Mai before. "Dang, I do that a lot, don't I…?"

"So, what happened?" Nanami snapped her fingers to bring Miyuki back to reality before she forgot it (like every other time…).

"Oh, right, sorry, I was sick this weekend, so I guess I kinda forgot about it," Miyuki stuck her tongue out in embarrassment. "And no one can focus when Niou and Marui were at the same place."

"Niou and Marui? Why are they at your house?" Nanami asked now completely interested in the story.

"They came on Saturday to 'take' care of me," Miyuki answered.

"Ha, those two boys 'taking' care of someone. I'll believe that when pigs fly!" Nanami laughed at Miyuki's statement. "I knew you did something special this Saturday. I'm good at this! Maybe I should start a business with this."

"What kind of job are you going to have with this kind of ability?" Miyuki asked in disbelief of her friend's fantasy.

"I don't know, but I'll figure out something," Nanami gave her a quick wink.

"You are unbelievable," Miyuki sweat-dropped unable to comprehend her friend's positive thought.

"Akaya, what are Miyuki and Nanami-sempai talking about?" Mai asked Kirihara as she entered the classroom to find the pink-hair, 9th grade girl sitting at her chair laughing and goofing off with her best friend.

"Oh, hi, Mai," Kirihara waved at her when he heard her question. "Nothing much, just talking about Miyuki's weekend. She was sick this weekend, so Marui-sempai and Niou-sempai went to her house to take care of her."

"What? She did?" Mai said in shock. _"I can't believe this…"_ Mai thought as she clenched her fist angrily. Although she didn't know exactly why she was feeling this, because she knew Miyuki was good friends with all the regulars. However, she still can't believe the boys would go this extreme for a friend.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that? I go to her house all the time," Kirihara asked seeing her expression changed.

"Oh, nothing, nothing, at all," Mai laughed nervously. She didn't realize Kirihara had catch a bit of anger in her tone when she gave her sentence. "Well, better sit down before the teacher comes in, haha."

"Okay," Kirihara said still confuse by the girl's sudden mood swing. "What's up with her?" Kirihara asked as he walked toward his desk. The teacher then walked in the classroom.

"Well, see you later, Miyuki." Nanami said as she saw the teacher entered the classroom. "And you too, Akaya."

"Bye, Nanami-sempai." Kirihara waved her a goodbye.

* * *

"So how was Miyuki?" Niou asked when he saw Nanami returned to the classroom.

"She seems fine. She looked way better than she did last week," replied Nanami simply.

"Wait, so you knew she was sick last week?" Marui asked in surprise that she realized there was something wrong with Miyuki last week since no one, not even Kirihara or Mai, had noticed it.

"Well, I didn't know what's wrong with her, but she didn't look as energized as she usually does," Nanami stated. "And besides, she usually has a good reason when she missed work. But then again usual the reason why she's absent is because you guys drag her into something else."

"Hey, we have good reasons to bug Miyuki," Niou argued back.

"No, you don't." Nanami sighed. "She always tells me you guys would drag her to watch you guys practice. I don't know about you guys, but I don't think watching a practice counts as an important event."

"It's just more fun when Miyuki's there," Marui blew his bubble, "especially since she's the only girl who isn't screaming her lungs off or fainting."

"And we can carry a conversation with her," Niou backed Marui up.

"Whatever, either way she's back on her feet," Nanami reassured the two regulars.

"That's good to know," Niou smiled.

"Yeah," Marui agreed with him. Afterward, the teacher of class 3-B walked in, and the three trios quickly found their seats and sat down waiting for another boring lecture.

* * *

"I can't believe Niou-sempai and Marui-sempai did that," Mai talked to herself as she walked down the hallway. "But why do I have this horrible feeling inside? Man, I wish the regulars would visit me at my home. That would make my life's dream complete!"

"Talking to yourself, huh? You're losing, girlie," Kamie said as she stood up straight from the wall she was leaning against when Mai walked by her.

"Ka… Kamie-sempai! Why are you here?" Mai asked fearfully, clearly didn't realized she was thinking out loud, since this was the first time she talked to Kamie, personally.

"Um… I go to school here, genius," Kamie gave answer to Mai's dumb and obvious question.

"Oh, right…"

"Anyway," Kamie gave her a fake smile to change the subject. "I overhear you about Miyuki."

"So?" Mai questioned not understanding where this conversation is heading toward.

"I hear that Miyuki had Niou and Marui-sama over the house for the weekend. Aren't you mad? She didn't even invite her best friend over. I mean if it was me, I would have call Chiyoko and Emiko right away."

"I'm sure Miyuki has a good reason why. Besides she was sick, so you know, her head wasn't exactly straight at the moment," Mai laughed nervously trying to back up her friend.

"Even if **I** was sick, I would have called them. And besides, she knows how much you like the regulars, right?" Kamie paused waiting for Mai to reply. When Mai gave her a quick nod, she continued, "So why would she, your best friend, try to stop you from chasing your dream?"

"Well, I…" Mai started to freak out now trying to think of something for come back. "Miyuki says I would just embarrass myself, so…"

"What kind of friend is she? Saying those lies! You are never embarrassing. I bet she's thinking you would ruin her moments alone with the regulars. What a selfish friend!" Kamie started to act all dramatic and looked as if she was about to faint.

"Well, now you put it this way…" Mai started to be persuaded by Kamie's words and began to doubt Miyuki. "You do have a point."

"See, I do, don't I? So why do you even bother to be friends with that no-good, selfish liar?" Kamie asked desperately. "She has done nothing to help you, and yet you work your butts off to help her!"

"That is true! I have been helping her with getting out of her shell and yet I got nothing back in return! You are so right!" Mai now completely agreed with Kamie.

"Of course, I am. I have known she was a no, good troublemaker to begin with. Why do you think I had been so rude to her? It's so that I wouldn't fall for her nice girl act," Kamie admitted. "So join me and leave her, because if you stay with her, you will just be her slave **eternally**." Kamie put the emphasis on the word 'eternally.'

"I don't want to be a slave forever~!" Mai cried in horror, which caused some students walking by wondered what the girls were talking about.

"Then escape from her while you still can!" Kamie warned.

"I will," said Mai who is now more determined than ever to leave Miyuki's friend circle. "Thank you so much, Kamie. Thank you for waking me from this nightmare."

"No, no, pleasure is all mine," Kamie let a hint of evil smile escaped from her lips. _"If you're not going to leave Marui-sama alone, then I'll completely destroy you, Miyuki Hayashi. Starting with your friends."_

* * *

"Miyuki," Marui blew a bubble as he saw the junior girl.

"Hey, Marui-sempai, do you need something or do you want me to deliver something to Akaya again?" Miyuki asked.

"Nope, I have a gift for you," Marui smiled. "Here," Marui handed her a cheesecake. "I know it's your favorite."

"Thank you but what's this for? It's not my birthday or anything. Wait, it isn't my birthday or anything, right?" Miyuki asked since she had forgotten her and her friends' birthdays before. In fact, one time she had forgot Kirihara's birthday and was forced to take him to an arcade for a week to pay him off.

"No," Marui started to laugh amused by the girl's silly yet cute reaction. "It's a treat for getting over your cold. You know what they say: after a sickness, you get to have all the cakes in the world!"

"Um, Marui-sempai, I'm pretty sure that's only for strep throat and you get ice cream instead of cake," Miyuki corrected him.

"Well, the rule should be for all sickness and all types of dessert, especially cakes," Marui pointed out. "And if you don't want it, I will be more than happy to eat it for you."

"No way, I want it and you made it for me not you. But I'll share it with you," Miyuki quickly grabbed the cheesecake from Marui's hands.

"Sweet, thanks, Miyuki," Marui cheered. "Let's go to the roof to eat then."

"Okay."

* * *

**Rooftop**

"Man, I love this place," Marui said as he opened the door to the rooftop.

"Marui-sempai, look," Miyuki grabbed the bubble-loving boy's hand and pulled him to the plants where she and Yukimura had been working on. "Aren't they pretty? I've been helping Yukimura-buchou every now and then with it."

"Yeah, you guys must have work on it a lot," Marui blew his bubble as a way to show his impress as to a normal whistle.

"It's fun work though, so it's alright," Miyuki smiled happily.

"I see," Marui said now sounding a bit distracted.

"Why don't we eat the cake now?" Miyuki obviously caught the tone of his voice and realized how much the young lad was focusing on the cake now.

"You read my mind."

"You really are an amazing cook, Marui-sempai, or at least a baker," Miyuki said impressively as she licked her fingers clean.

"Haha, thanks, glad you think so."

"Oh, Marui-sempai, you got some cake on your face."

"I do? Where?" Marui started to check on himself.

"Here," Miyuki dipped her index finger into the cheesecake and whipped it on his face.

"Hey," Marui started to laugh as well as Miyuki. "Well, then you got some too." He then grabbed some and whipped on Miyuki's face. After that they just started to laugh at their actions. "Miyuki, you know what, you should change your hairstyle once in a while." Marui said as he started to play with her hair.

"Why do you suddenly said that?"

"I don't know. I just thought of it."

"But I like the way my hairstyle is, and besides I don't know much different types so I thought I might as well just stick with one type."

"I can give you a new hairstyle, just let me play with your hair for a bit," Marui offered.

"Can you even do anything with hair?" Miyuki asked.

"I'm sure I can figure something out with my genius ability," Marui proudly said.

"Okay, fine, just don't ruin it," Miyuki warned.

"Sweet!" Marui cheered as he removed the rubber band that held the two lines of braids together in the back.

* * *

I kind of made this chapter as I go so... If it wasn't really good, I apologize for it... :( And just a warning I might not update for about 2 weeks, because for the next 2 weeks my school is preparing for the spring musicals so...

P.S. if anyone have any ideas what Marui would do to Miyuki's hair, please tell me! I don't that many types of hairstyles so that's a little problem... And if anyone have any idea for Valentines please tell me that would be a lot of help! Thank you :D

Hope you guys like the chapter and please review! :D


	16. Valentine's Special

**Hey, guys, so Happy very late Valentine's Day and President's Day! I'm so sorry I update this chapter so late... I was really busy this last few weeks... I had my school's musical these past few weeks so we were practicing till like 10 at night... **

**So this chapter is like directly after the last chapter since Mai had already betrayed Miyuki but haven't told her yet. So it's more like a secret betrayal. And also, I decided to make Nanami and Niou a pair now. If you don't like it, please tell me.**

**Anyway, enjoyed!**

* * *

"Miyuki, guess what day is coming up?" Kirihara asked looking like he was about to jump up and down at the blonde hair girl.

"Um… Thursday?" Miyuki carelessly replied still reading her book.

"Well, it will be Thursday tomorrow, but it's also Valentine's Day tomorrow," Kirihara smiled.

"Why do you care about that?" Miyuki asked not understanding why he would care about a day where his fangirls go even more extreme than normal. "Unless, you like somebody~!" Miyuki dropped the book down and excitedly said thinking her friend had finally found someone he liked.

"No way," Kirihara laughed it off. "I mean are you making some chocolate for anyone? You know what kind of chocolate I like!" Kirihara gave her hints about what he wanted tomorrow.

"Of course," sighed Miyuki now knowing her friend's intention for bringing up this holiday. "I haven't thought about making any chocolate, but if you really want it, I guess I can make some tonight."

"Yes! Thank you, Miyuki," Kirihara happily cheered while giving his friend a big hug.

"Yeah, yeah," Miyuki patted Kirihara's arm.

* * *

"Nanami-sempai, can I borrow some milk?" Miyuki asked as she grabbed the carton out of the fridge from the restaurant.

"What? In your dreams, that's the restaurant's milk. I'll get in trouble if my dad finds out, and I'm already in trouble once this week. I don't need a second reason for him to hate me," Nanami hastily snapped the carton out of Miyuki's hands. "Why do you need it anyway? I thought you don't bake anymore."

"Well, Akaya wanted me to make him some chocolate for Valentine's tomorrow, so I need the ingredients to make them." Miyuki revealed. "Are you giving anything to someone tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah, definitely."

"Really, who?"

"Niou."

"Why? Do you like him?"

"Oh, heck no, but he pulled a prank on me yesterday, so I'm planning on getting him back by giving him an exploding chocolate," Nanami evilly smiled. "I'm going to give a piece of chocolate to every regular so he would never expect it coming!"

"Why would you go this extreme for a simple prank," Miyuki wondered.

"Oh, dear, simple Miyuki, the art of cunningness requires multiple and highly thought-out plans," Nanami putted her arm around Miyuki's shoulder to explain to her the beauty of pranks.

"Right…"

"What about you? Are you just going to give it to Akaya and that's it?" Nanami asked after finishing her explanation. "Cuz I know at least one person who will be thrill getting sweets from you especially."

"I don't know, maybe Marui-sempai. He does like sweets with all his heart," Miyui said after thinking for a while. "I mean if I'm making some chocolate I might as well make it for more than one person."

"There you go," Nanami smiled. "Tell you what; I'll let you out early so you can go buy the ingredients instead of just letting you take them from here. Deal?"

"That would be great, thanks, Nanami-sempai," Miyuki thanked her as she grabbed her bag-pack ready to leave the restaurant.

"Yeah, yeah, just get out of here," Nanami waved a goodbye to her.

* * *

"Let's see… Since I'm here, I might as well get everything I need to make the chocolates," Miyuki decided because she wasn't sure if all she was missing was milk. "So here's the sugar and cocoa powder…" Miyuki named out the items as she picked them up.

"Miyuki, what are you doing here?" Mai surprisingly asked.

"Oh, hi, Mai, I'm just here buying some ingredients. It is Valentine's tomorrow, so," Miyuki smiled pointing to her basket.

"But you don't care about that holiday. In fact, don't you hate it?" Mai asked confusingly.

"I don't hate it. I just don't get the point of it, that's all," Miyuki shrugged her shoulders off. She did kind of hate Valentine's since it's the time where couples celebrated their love. Her parents never celebrated since her father cheated on his wife and ruined the relationship. Miyuki had being doubting on love ever since. Although, she had been letting that doubt go slowly now.

"Oh, guess all these years I was wrong," Mai said carelessly. "So who's the lucky boy?"

"Well, Akaya told me to make some for him and I'm thinking of making some for Marui-sempai," Miyuki admitted.

"You are…?" Mai said a bit disappointed knowing that Kamie was also planning on giving Marui chocolate.

"Is something wrong?" Miyuki asked innocently not knowing what the girl was thinking inside her head.

"Oh, nothing, nothing at all," Mai laughed it off. "Well, guess I'll see you tomorrow then." Mai quickly gave her a wave and ran off.

"That was weird…" Miyuki said confusingly. "Even for her... Ah, it's already 6! I told mom I'll be home at 6:30!" Miyuki realized when she saw the clock on the wall. "I'll be in trouble if I'm late!"

* * *

So the day finally came where a girl gives a boy of her dream a piece of chocolate to show her affection. Although in Miyuki's case, it was a day where friend gives another friend sweets to show off their friendships.

"Here you go, Akaya," Miyuki dropped a yellow bag decorated with a black ribbon, in honor of Rikkaidai's color, on Kirihara's desk. "Just like you asked."

"Sweet! Thanks, Miyuki! Your baking is the best!" Kirihara happily said as he opened up the bag and started to eat the containment inside of it.

"Glad you think that way," Miyuki smiled.

* * *

**Lunchtime**

"So Nanami-sempai, was Niou-sempai surprised by your prank?" Miyuki asked her friend as she took a bite from her sandwich. They decided to eat under the giant cherry blossom in their school. Miyuki had asked Mai if she wanted to eat with them, but the lass said she had something else she had to do. They were also going to invite the regulars, but since it was Valentine's Day, they couldn't even get close to the regulars. Girls were surrounding the regulars basically every second on this day.

"No, it didn't!" Nanami angrily said. "He said he doesn't like sweet so he gave it to Yagyuu. The chocolate exploded all over Yagyuu, and he got so mad at me. And then he started to lecture me about how exploding sweet is not lady-like and such! And then Sanada made me clean up the court since it got some on the court too."

"That must be awful," Miyuki couldn't help herself but started to giggle. She never had to be lecture by Yagyuu, but apparently from her friends, mostly from Niou and Kirihara, it is very boring.

"And you know what the worst part was? Niou was standing behind Yagyuu laughing at me the entire time! I want to struggle that boy so much!" Nanami angrily held her fist wishing how she should have done what she had just said. She wouldn't mind if Yagyuu would talk to her about how wrong that was. He was already giving her one lecture; two wouldn't kill her now.

"I told you it was pointless," Miyuki said still not understanding why Nanami, and Niou, liked pranks so much.

"Oh no, it's not! This means war! I don't care if I have to track him for the rest of my life. I will have the last laugh!" Nanami said now more determined than ever. "He had screw with me more than once, and you know how much I hate that!"

"Yeah, who could forget?" Miyuki sighed giving up on trying telling her friend how ridiculous it was to devote one's life to ruining someone else's. Whenever Nanami was in this stage, she would not realize what she had said or her surroundings.

"Anyway, what about you?" Nanami asked finally able to be come down a little bit. "Did you give Akaya or Marui their gifts?"

"Well, I only gave it to Akaya since he's in my class, so I just gave it to him before class started. As for Marui-sempai, I haven't seen him today yet, but I bet I wouldn't even able to reach him since all the girls will be all over him," Miyuki replied.

"Then when are you going to do it?"

"I don't know; maybe after school…"

"You better do it before their practice starts or else you won't be seeing him at all today."

"Haha, I know. I'll try to get out of class as soon as the last bell rings."

"Good idea."

* * *

**After School**

"Hey, Miyuki, you're here fast," Nanami whistled when she saw her friend walked in the classroom.

"Yeah, well, I try to be. Anyway, where's Marui-sempai?" Miyuki asked looking around for the bubble-loving boy.

"Oh, he's at the bathroom cleaning up. Apparently, he was doing an experiment and his partner accidently dropped a test tube, with some of the test liquid inside, all over him," Nanami answered.

"Yeah, you should have seen him! It was hilarious," Niou walked up to them while laughing. "By the way, Nanami, Yagyuu said that he wasn't done talking to you yet."

"Shut up. If I have to listen to his speech, then I'm definitely dragging you with me!" Nanami bit back.

"No you can't, I'm not the one who's in trouble here, puri," Niou stuck his tongue out.

"I don't care if you're in trouble or not. I need someone to suffer with me and you are the perfect sacrifice lamb!" Nanami angrily held her fist wanting to grab his tongue and pull it as hard as she could.

"Um… Guys," Miyuki said silently. Without the duo realizing, they had started walking out of the classroom and were heading toward the tennis court. They ended up letting Miyuki be all alone in the classroom. "Great, now I'm alone." Miyuki decided to take a seat to wait for Marui since she saw his bag was still on his desk.

"Miyuki? What are you doing here?" Kamie said horrifying when she walked in and saw Miyuki.

"I can ask you the same question," Miyuki smiled.

"It's my classroom. I have the right to be here while you don't," Kamie glared at her. When Kamie saw Miyuki was holding a yellow bag (decorated the same way as Kirihara's bag), she immediately assumed it was chocolate inside. _"I bet that bag is for Marui-sama!" _Kamie knew about this due to Mai telling her during lunchtime.

"Well, it's our school. So technically, I have the right to be here too," Miyuki reasoned with her. "Is there something wrong?" Miyuki asked when she saw Mai sudden changed of facial expression.

"What's that?" Kamie asked pointing at the bag while trying to hide her anger.

"Oh, it's sweet for Marui-sempai. I thought he might like some since it's Valentine's Day," Miyuki smiled looking at her bag.

"Too bad, Marui-sama will never get it," Kamie sighed.

"Why's that?" Miyuki asked. As soon as she asked that, Kamie reached out her hand to grab the bag. Luckily, Miyuki reacted to that and pull the bag away from Kamie's reach. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing, I just want to look at it. Don't be shy."

"No, that's okay."

"Man, mom's gonna kill me when she sees this… Oh, Miyuki, what are you doing here?" Marui asked when he looked up from his still stained clothes.

"I was waiting for you," Miyuki got up from the seat. "Here, Happy Valentine's Day." She said as she was about to give him the sweet.

"Wait, Marui-sama, I also got you your Valentine's gift!" Kamie excitedly said as she pulled out her gift. "And it's okay. You don't have to feel sorry for her, Marui-sama. You are not force to take her gift. You can just tell her straight that you like my gift better!"

"Sweet! Thanks, Miyuki, I was hoping to get your gift today," Marui patted Miyuki's head happily completely ignored what Kamie had just said. "Oh, wait, I got something for you too!" Marui eagerly ran to his desk to grab something. "Here, I know it's not White Day, but I saw this at the store yesterday and I wanted to buy it for you."

"Thank you," Miyuki blushed a little when Marui handed her a mix of flowers hold together by a pink ribbon.

"No problem, hey, do you want to come to watch the practice today?" Marui asked.

"Sure."

"Great, let's go! Oh, hey, Kamie, when did you get here?" Marui asked just realized the girl was standing here with them. "Oh, guess what, Nanami also gave me some chocolate! I didn't know she was a great cook. Maybe I should ask her to make some sweets for me one of these days!"

"Nanami-sempai made all the regulars some sweets, because she wanted to play a prank on Niou-sempai," Miyuki revealed the real intention behind the pink haired girl's action. "She failed the prank though," Miyuki answered before Marui could even ask the question.

"It's like you read my mind," Marui blew his green apple gum.

"I just thought you might want to know the reason," Miyuki smiled. The pair then started heading to the tennis court. While all this was happening, Kamie was just standing there unable to comprehend the fact that Marui did not even realized she was in the room.

"I… I don't… believe this…" Kamie whispered sounding like about to cry.

* * *

**So for anyone who doesn't know what White Day is: White Day is set on March 14 (one month after Valentine's Day) where the boys replied to the girls' gifts by giving them chocolate or something like that. It's a holiday in Asia country like Japan and Taiwan.**

**I hoped you guys like this chapter! Please review on whether this was good or not and what I can improve on! Thank you all for reading this and to all who favorite and follow this story!**


	17. Chapter 14

**Hey, guys! Sorry for this late update. School had been really busy lately, and I'm sorry to say that it's only getting worse... (although only for March though, so yay!) I have this journal thing due in like 2 weeks and I haven't even started... Haha, blame my laziness! Anyway, I hope I'll get more time as the month goes by! **

**Anyway, hope you guys like it! And please review to tell me what you guys think and where I can improve!**

**Thanks to all who had review/alert/favorite it! :D It really makes me happy when I sees it :)**

* * *

"Woah, Miyuki, what happened to your hair?" Nanami asked in surprise when she saw her friend had her hair tied differently. "You never change your hairstyle."

"Huh? Oh, this," Miyuki touched her hair which had changed from a braid tied from the front to the back into a ponytail tied to the side with some wave to it. (it's like Serah's hair from Final Fantasy XIII, I don't know why but I started to draw her hairstyle like this, so I just thought I would use it for the story) "Marui-sempai said he wanted to play with it."

"That explains it," Nanami sweat-dropped. "Still, I didn't expect him to be a hair master." Nanami said examining Miyuki's hair.

"Of course, I am. I'm a genius, after all," Marui blew his bubble walking up to them.

"Oh, Marui," Nanami surprisingly said. "I thought you went to practice already." She did not expect the self-proclaimed genius to be back into the classroom since he was the first one to leave the room.

"I was, but then I remember I forgot my math book," Marui explained as he searched his desk. "Ah, there it is," Mauri pulled out a book. "Well, you guys are free to join me if you want."

"Sure, but I need to finish cleaning this mess," Nanami pointed to a broken vase.

"Oh, you mean the one you and Niou broke?" Marui asked remembering during clean-up time that Nanami and Niou were playing baseball with a broom and a roll-up paper. The event ended with Niou hitting the paper ball straight at the vase, which, of course, broke the vase.

"Yeah, I still don't understand how Niou got away with cleaning it up," Nanami sighed still wondering how the silver-haired boy was able to persuade their teacher to let him leave class on time.

"Niou has his way," Marui shrugged his shoulders. "You should have known."

"I really should have… Well, get out now so I can clean and you won't be yell by Sanada," Nanami warned.

"Oh, you're right! Thanks, seeing you guys on the court," Marui gave them a quick wave goodbye.

"Bye-bye," both girls said in unison.

"So I don't have to help you clean up, right?" Miyuki asked in worry since Nanami usually forced Miyuki to assist her with these kinds of jobs.

"Nah, I got it. It's no biggie," Nanami shrugged her shoulders. Since it was only one tiny, little vase, she did not bother getting mad at Niou or tricking Miyuki into helping her. Nanami then grabbed a broom and a duster and started to clean up.

* * *

**Tennis Court**

"Ah! Nanami-sempai, save me!" Kirihara shouted as he ran across the court and finally hid behind the pink-haired girl.

"What's the matter, Akaya?" Miyuki asked curiously.

"Come back here, brat!" Niou angrily yelled at Kirihara since he was the one who was chasing Kirihara around.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on?" Nanami quickly grabbed hold of Niou to stop him from murdering the poor junior ace.

"That stupid brat knocked hair dye all over one of my wig," Niou showed Nanami and Miyuki the ruined wig. "How am I supposed to be Yukimura-buchou with green-hair instead of blue?"

"I told you it was an accident, Niou-sempai!" Kirihara barely showed his face toward Niou since most part of his body was still hiding behind Nanami.

"And I told you I don't care if it was an accident!" Niou rebutted back. As soon as he said that, Niou started to make the motion of wanting to strangle the boy.

"Okay, just calm down, Niou," Nanami grabbed Niou's arms, tighter this time, again. "I thought you said you were going to clothing store today, anyway. Just go buy a new wig when you're there."

"Whatever," Niou swung his hand to make Nanami let go of his hands. "I'm still going to get you back though." Niou glared at Kirihara with deadly eyes.

"You mean worse than what you usually do to me?" Kirihara asked in fear.

"That's prank. This is revenge, brat," Niou explained the difference between these situations.

"Miyuki, save me," Kirihara begged the girl.

"No way, I'm not getting involved into this," Miyuki shook her head violently knowing how extreme Niou tended to go when he is mad.

"You'll be fine, Akaya," Nanami reassured him. "Just watch you back." Nanami slipped out the last part as she patted Kirihara's back. "Oh, Niou, since you are going to the mall later, mind if I tag along?"

"No, why do you want to?"

"I want to buy some pranking materials too."

"Nice, now I don't feel like you're a burden."

"Thanks that made me feel so much better."

"Well, we should get ready for practice or else Sanada fuku-buchou is going to kill us," Niou said as he went and grabbed Kirihara by the ear. "Not that I mind him killing you though," Niou said glaring at the junior ace.

"Aw! I said I was sorry, Niou-sempai!" Kirihara tried once again to apologize.

* * *

"Well, wasn't that a nice welcome?" Nanami sarcastically asked.

"What do you expect? It's Niou-sempai and Akaya we're talking about," Miyuki sighed.

"Hey, look there's Mai," Nanami said seeing the junior walking in. "That reminds me, I haven't seen you hanging around her these past few weeks. What happen?"

"I have no idea. I try to ask her to hang out, but she keep saying she's busy," Miyuki sighed sadden that her best friend had been ditching or avoiding her.

"Weird," Nanami shrugged her shoulders since she does not really care about it. The first impression of Mai to her was a crazy fangirl who can barely keep herself together. "At least, you have some free time to yourself now."

"I still would like to hang out with her," Miyuki sighed.

"Why don't you go and say hi to her now, then?" Nanami thought of an obvious idea.

"I guess so. I'll be right back," Miyuki ran up to Mai. "Mai, wait!"

"Oh, hi, Miyuki," Mai said sounding a bit disappointed.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that you been busying these couple of weeks. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I'm just been busy with study and stuff, that's all," Mai lied. Kamie told Mai not to tell Miyuki that they weren't friends anymore since it would hurt Miiyuki too much and Mai just didn't have the gut to do it. Although in truth, Kamie wanted to use this little secret to her own advantage.

"Okay, if you need anything, you can always come to me," Miyuki smiled.

"Okay, well, I should go now, bye," Mai finally said after an awkward silence was left between them.

"Bye."

"So how did it go?" Nanami asked walking up to Miyuki.

"Not well, I think," Miyuki sighed. "It's like she's keeping a secret from me."

"You always think too much," Nanami patted Miyuki's head.

"I hope that's the case this time," Miyuki said still sounded a little depress.

* * *

"Hurry up, Akaya, I want to hit the arcade now," Marui hassled Kirihara who was in the locker room changing.

"Okay, you don't have to yell at me, sempai," Kirihara hurriedly stepped out of the changing room. "Hey, Miyuki, do you want to hit the arcade with us? I haven't kicked your butt in that fighting game for a while." (sorry, I couldn't think of a name for the game so…)

"You're on, Akaya," Miyuki grinned. "I'm gonna beat you so hard that you'll regret asking me to play with you."

"What about you, Nanami? Want to come with us?" Marui asked. "It's Jackal's treat."

"When did I agree with that," Jackal asked annoyingly. Marui, once again, tried to dump the payment onto his double partner.

"No thanks, I'm going with Niou to buy some stuffs," Nanami replied not mentioning the 'stuffs' were things that Niou was going to use to prank them in the future.

"Argh, Niou shopping? Great," Marui horrified by the thought of the things Niou was going to buy.

"What about me?" Niou asked since he heard his name called a few times.

"The fact that you were going shopping," Marui answered.

"Don't worry. This trip will only contain stuffs that I'm gonna use to hurt this brat," Niou pinched Kirihara's cheek hard, clearly still angered by the accident.

"Aw! Why can't you just forgive me, sempai?"

"Because forgiving is for losers."

"Okay, you guys have places to go and so do we. So let's go," Nanami cut this argument short and started to drag Niou away. "See you tomorrow, Miyuki."

"You too, Nanami-sempai and Niou-sempai," Miyuki waved back to them.

* * *

"Hey, guys, let's stop here for a sec," Marui suddenly said pointing at a store as they walked down a street.

"Why?" Kirihara asked.

"That's why," Miyuki sighed as she looked at where Marui was pointing. It was a cake shop full of delicious dessert and treats. "Marui-sempai, can't you go a day without stopping to get a treat?"

"Nope," Marui grinned. "Don't worry. You guys don't have to pay for it. Because it'll be pay by," Marui reassured them. "Jackal."

"Wait, a second," Jackal surprisingly (okay, not that surprisingly, since Marui does that all the time) said.

"What? You don't want to?" Marui asked innocently. "You want poor Miyuki here to pay for herself?" Marui quickly grabbed Miyuki by the shoulders and put her in between Jackal and him.

"Hey, don't drag me into this conversation, Marui-sempai!" Miyuki said trying her best to escape Marui's grip. Unfortunately for Miyuki and thanks to all those tennis training, Marui's hold was too strong for Miyuki to break free.

"Marui…" Jackal sighed putting a hand over his face unable to comprehend how extreme Marui is willingly to go for a snack. In the end, Jackal was defeated by Marui's persistence and ended up paying for his and Kirihara's load. Miyuki, instead, felt sorry for Jackal so she paid for it herself.

"Man, I love this store's cream puff! It's the best!" Marui happily said as he took a bite out of the puff and set his tongue into a journey of sweetness.

"Marui-sempai, hurry up! I want to go to the arcade already!" Kirihara jumped up and down impatiently. The arcade had a strict policy of no eating while playing the video games. In fact, Kirihara wanted to go so badly, he practically shoved the entire puff into his mouth. This action, though, earned the junior ace a smack from the self-proclaimed genius on the head for not taking his time to enjoy the sweetness.

After Marui was done with his sweet (which seemed like eternality to Kirihara), they finally entered the arcade. When they entered, Kirihara immediately tried to decide which game he should pick first. In the end, he chose to play a versus-player fighting game against Miyuki.

"I'm gonna wipe the floor with you," Kirihara grinned.

"Hey, that's my line," Miyuki smiled. After 10 minutes of fighting, the score is 1 to 1, tied. They then decided to make the last game interesting: the loser has to do a favor for the winner. The last fight was close but Kirihara won thanks to the set-time limit. "Argh, dang it! If only they had just gave me one more minute, I could have cream you!"

"Yeah, in your dream," Kirihara cheered while high-fiving Marui and Jackal for celebration. "Now you own me!"

"Rats, so what do you want from me?" Miyuki sighed knowing her childhood friend's favor would be something childish.

"Hm, let me think," Kirihara put his hand on his chin to think carefully. "I know! There's a summer festival that's coming up this weekend. I want you to come with me!"

"I guess it wouldn't be that bad," Miyuki sighed. "Okay, I'll honor the deal. I'll go with you."

"Yes!"

"Hey, I want to go too!" Marui suddenly said since he got interested by the talk about a festival and the fact that Miyuki decided to go.

"Fine, but you're paying for your own ticket, food, and everything, Marui-sempai," Kirihara said since he does not want to pay for his sempai's part. Marui had the tendency of buying and eating more when someone else is paying for him.

"Don't worry about me. I got my part cover," Marui grinned. "Jackal is going to pay for me."

"Hold on a sec, Marui, since when did I said I'm going?" Jackal asked in shock that the red-haired boy had brought him into this conversation.

"What? Don't you like festivals?" Marui asked surprisingly.

"That's not… Forget it," Jackal gave up since every time he tried to explain to his best friend how the question Marui asked never is equivalent to Jackal's point, he's pretty sure the talk came in one ear and left the other.

"Great! Then it's decided!" Marui cheered. "We're all going to the festival this weekend!"

* * *

"Niou, how long does one need to make a decision?" Nanami asked annoyingly since she was completely done with her part of shopping. Niou, on the other hand, was still deciding on either getting a shocking gum or a super-sticky spraying can.

"Hold on, you can't rush perfection!" Niou said as he continued to closely examine the two choices. At the same time, he was also thinking of which one of them would be a perfect start of getting revenge on Kirihara.

"Here's a thought, just get both!" Nanami said clearly did not want to stay here any longer.

"I can't," Niou guilty said. "I used most of my allowance on other things already."

"What other things?"

"It's a secret."

"Of course," Nanami sighed. As soon as she had asked that question, she questioned herself why she even bothered to ask a trickster that kind of question.

"Hey, Nanami, do you have something plan this weekend?" Niou suddenly asked out of nowhere.

"Where did this come from?" Nanami chuckled a little by the silver-haired boy's question.

"Cuz there's a festival in town this weekend and I was wondering if you want to come," Niou explained.

"You don't seem like a person who enjoys going to a festival just for fun," Nanami said closely examine Niou before continued, "You seems more like a person who enjoyed torturing children if you ever go to something like this."

"How dare you accuse me of that? I'm hurt!" Niou grabbed his shirt at the place where his heart is to express his 'pain.' When Nanami gave him the narrow eyes, Niou admitted, "Okay, fine, I heard Akaya said something about it during practice so I thought I might as well start the revenge there. You know, when the brat is as happy as he could be."

"I can't believe you. Although I do like your persistent, so why not, I'll go with you," Nanami finally answered his question.

"Yes! Oh, by the way, if we get caught, I'm blaming you for dragging me into this," Niou stuck his tongue out.

"NIOU!"

"Pupina."


	18. Chapter 15

**Hey guys, happy late Pi day! I know I said I wouldn't be back till like April, but I was so excited to write this chapter I had to write it this week (although I did avoid my homwork though so...) Oh, and also the clothes Miyuki is wearing for the festival is the one on the cover. I thought of that shirt one day and I knew it was for her to wear :) The shirt is sleeveless, purple with dark purple line stripe (it's black in the picture because I was being stupid and use the black market to draw it...) and there is yellow strings around her waist. She has a armband tie to her left bicep (kind of like Yuna from Final Fantasy X-2), and a purple jacket tie around her waist and blue jeans. The bag she has is black and it's actually my bag that I decide to draw it to her, haha.**

**Anyway, hope you guys will enjoy this chapter :) And I want thank Jshae414 for helping write this chapter! You really gave me a lot of awesome ideas and save me many times when I have writer's block :D**

* * *

"Miyuki, get up now!" Sora yelled as she shook Miyuki's bed to try to get the blonde-haired girl out of bed. When Miyuki turned toward the other side of the bed as a reply to Sora's yell, Sora's veins popped, "Argh, you're the one who told me to wake you up early, and this is how you repay me? I don't think so!" Sora grabbed the bed again, but this time she completely pulled the sheets out so Miyuki would fall to the ground.

"Ouch! What in the world?" Miyuki, now fully awaked, rubbed her forehead.

"Wake up, sleepy head. You told me to get you up at 8:30, so you're welcome."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that," Miyuki slowly stood up. She had forgotten about it last night, so she had stayed up till 1 reading a book since it was a Friday. "Thanks for remembering." Miyuki laughed sheepishly.

"Why do you want to wake up this early anyway? It's weekend. You should be asleep right now. I should be asleep, more importantly," Sora pointed to herself angrily. She definitely did not want to walk up at 8 in the morning to get everything ready for her little sister.

"I told you. I promised Akaya to go the summer festival with him," Miyuki explained as she started to change into her attire.

"That's what it was," Sora nodded now remembering the blonde-haired girl told her yesterday about her plan.

"Yeah, so I guess I'll be back around 5," Miyuki guessed the time when she will returned. Since it was a festival, there was no doubt that Kirihara would want to ride everything single attractions they had to offer.

"Okay, and didn't you say something about going to school to look something too?" Sora asked.

"Oh yeah, I want to check on plants on the roof." Miyuki remembered. "Thanks, Sora nee-san, I almost forgot."

"I don't get you… Wanting to go back to school on the weekend, that's unthinkable to me," Sora sighed shaking her head. "I would get away from school as far as possible."

"Whatever, I like school though, a lot of people I like go there," Miyuki said as she headed downstairs.

"They won't be there though. Oh, and is Nanami going to be there as well?"

"She said she's busy, so she can't make it to the festival. And no way, she doesn't get this kind of stuffs. She always asked me why Yukimura-buchou and I would put so much of our time into those plants," Miyuki revealed.

"You know, I can see her asking that kind of question. Oh, breakfast is on the table, by the way."

"Thanks."

"And just because you're going out today, doesn't mean you are free from your chores!" Sora warned.

"I know! I'll be home on time to make dinner!" Miyuki said. The kids are forced to take up different jobs, like cooking, since their parents weren't usually home until 7 or 8 due to their works. Well, not all kids cooked, consider the fact that Roy couldn't cook to save his own life.

"Good, see you later then."

"Bye-bye."

* * *

"What took you so long, Miyuki?" Kirihara said with a hint of anger since everyone except Miyuki was already there. "We'll be late!"

"No, we're not. I'm on time. You guys are the one who're early," Miyuki said sounding already tired even though the day hadn't even begun yet. "Besides, it's an all day festival. It's not going anywhere."

"Yeah, but I want to be the first one there! And you are slowing us down. Now go, go, go," Kirihara unable to wait any longer started to push Miyuki toward the bus stop to reach their destination.

"Akaya! Calm down and stop pushing me!" Miyuki yelled.

After Kirihara's constant shoving, they made it in the bus and arrived at the festival. When they got to the festival, they waited excitedly (mostly Kirihara) at the line.

"Hm, where should we go first?" Kirihara asked himself as he closely examined the map of the festival. "There's way too many awesome thing to try and so little time!"

"What are you talking about, Akaya? We have the whole day to just goof off," Marui reminded the kouhai.

"Yeah, just calm down, Akaya," Jackal said trying to get Kirihara to breathe a little slower.

"Okay," Kirihara said as he took a deep breathe but then suddenly screamed, "We need to go there first!" Kirihara excitedly pointed to a rollercoaster.

"Akaya, you're screaming…" Jackal said quietly as he put his hands on his ears to block out the junior ace's loud voice. "And people are looking…"

"Who cares? Let's go, Jackal-sempai!" Kirihara cheered not able to wait any longer and started to run off without waiting for any of them.

"Akaya…" Jackal said tiredly as he caught up with the seaweed-haired boy. Jackal did not exactly want to come, but somehow he was dragged into it and was forced to act like a parent toward these 'children.'

"What's wrong, Miyuki? You're going to be left behind if you don't hurry up," Marui asked the girl, whom seemed very distracted, just before he was going to follow Kirihara.

"Uh, oh, it was nothing, sorry!" Miyuki laughed sheepishly embarrassed by the fact that Marui had caught her daydreaming. However, as soon as she finished that sentence, her eyes drifted back to where they originally were.

"You want that teddy bear?" Marui asked as he followed Miyuki's eyes and saw a ring-tossing booth. The booth had different types of gift given to the lucky winners who can get more than two rings onto the bottles. However, out of all the prizes, Miyuki was mostly focused on a huge teddy bear with a blue ribbon tied around its neck.

"Uh… Yeah," Miyuki blushed a little not able to hide the fact that she had fell in love with that bear almost instantly when she first gazed at it.

"Tell you what, after the rollercoaster, I'll get that teddy bear for you," Marui said as he blew his bubble. "Deal?"

"Really? That would be awesome! Thank you, Marui-sempai!" Miyuki shrieked. She was so happy that she felt like she would hug him right at the spot. (she doesn't though, such a shame)

"Alright, calm your horses," Marui smiled as he patted Miyuki's head lightly. "C'mon let's go. I bet Jackal and Akaya are wondering where we are."

* * *

"Nye, Niou, I don't get you…" Nanami said as she and Niou were walking in a distance from Miyuki's group so they wouldn't be seen by Miyuki or the others. "Why do we have to lie to them saying we can't go just so we can spy on them? You do realize you can still prank Akaya even when we are hanging out with them."

"First of all, it's revenge not prank. There's a different. Second, even though he's an idiot, he's bound to figure out I want to do something to him if we ask if we can go with them. Besides, it'll be a way better surprise this way," Niou explained.

"Okay, then why can't WE have fun?" Nanami asked. "I would rather go play on the rides then just standing here and spying on them for the perfect moment to strike."

"And miss a chance to mess the brat up? No way," Niou said now determined more than ever. He had thought everything out perfectly last night, and all he needed now is to find the perfect chance to execute his plan.

"Well, they're going on a ride right now, so let's go somewhere too," Nanami grabbed Niou's hand and started to drag him to one of the rides. "Bet you can't do anything to him while they're on a ride!"

"Hey, you don't have to pull that hard! I'm walking!" Niou said as he's been dragged by Nanami to a ride, which happened to be a balloon race.

* * *

"That was awesome! I thought I was going to puke while riding that!" Kirihara screamed as the group walked out the exit from the rollercoaster ride. "We should do it again!"

"No!" The trio yelled back at him. They were still feeling a bit lousy after the ride. All they wanted to do was just sit down for a second and let their hearts returned to normal. Unfortunately for them, Kirihara still had enough stamina to continue his riding adventure. They ended up going on different rides without resting, such as the bumper car, rainbow, and paratrooper. Miyuki had wanted to go on the merry-go-round, but all the horses were taken and Kirihara would only go on if he got a horse. In the end, they promised Miyuki they would go back to it when the ride is less crowded.

After a dozen of rides, Marui was able to persuade Kirihara to slow things down and go do some of the booth games. Although they played at different booths, they never returned to the ring-tossing game where Miyuki's dream toy was waiting for her. They did, however, won a lot of different prizes from the games, well, almost everyone. Somehow, Kirihara was not able to any single game. It was as if he was curse, which is what he called it.

"I can't believe Akaya lost all of them," Nanami whispered as she kept a close eye on the group.

"Of course, he lost," Niou chuckled. "It's part of my plan, puri."

"Wait, what?" Nanami asked disbelief. She knew Niou was cunning but she didn't expect him to be this cunning that he was able to hijack the games to make it unwinnable for the second year.

"I asked the people at the booths to make sure Akaya wouldn't able to win any of the games he played today," Niou explained. Yesterday when everyone was working on putting up the festival, Niou came and talked to all of the workers about Kirihara. He even gave them a picture of the junior so they wouldn't miss him.

"How do you know them?"

"I know people and I have my ways."

"Right," Nanami said half-heartedly. "Hey, who's that?" Nanami pointed to a girl who is currently having a conversation with the group, but mainly Marui.

"How should I know? It's a girl, so you should know it," Niou just assumed the girl was one of Miyuki's friends since she was, after all, a girl.

"Just because she's a girl, doesn't mean she's a friend with Miyuki or me," Nanami sighed clearly understood where Niou got his idea from.

"Well, let's just go and listen to see who she is then, shall we?" Niou invited Nanami to eavesdrop the party.

"Okay."

* * *

"Argh! Why can't I win at any of these games!?" Kirihara cried still trying to figure out why he had lost in every single game.

"C'mon, Akaya, maybe it's just not your day," Miyuki patted her childhood friend's back to comfort him. That did not do much though, Kirihara was still too focusing on the fact that he was losing.

"I want to try one more time!"

"Akaya, stop, you're wasting all your money way."

"Jackal's right, Akaya, stop playing it now before all your money is gone."

"Eh? Bu-chan Bu-chan, is that you?" A brown, wavy haired girl suddenly spoke behind the party when they were still arguing or persuading Kirihara to stop playing a game that he probably had zero chance of winning.

"Huh?" Marui and the rest of the group turned around when they heard the girl's voice. After looking at the girl for a while, Marui finally remembered and said, "Azumi! What are you doing here? I thought you went to Tokyo!"

"Well, my dad finally got another job here, so we just moved back a few months ago! I'm so glad to see you again, Bu-chan!" the girl, Azumi, smiled.

"Um, mind filling us in, Marui?" Jackal asked Marui in confusion of what was happening right in front of him. Kirihara and Miyuki simply nodded in agreement with what Jackal had just said.

"Oh, sorry, guys, this is Yamashita Azumi. She's a childhood friend of mine," Marui pointed to her as he explained. "She left Kanagawa when she was 8 because her dad got a job in Tokyo."

"It's nice to meet you then, Yamagata-san. I'm Kuwahara Jackal."

"I'm Kirihara Akaya."

"And I'm Hayashi Miyuki."

"Hm," Azumi walked over to Miyuki and started to examine her, which made the girl extremely uncomfortable. "I see you found a replacement of me, Bu-chan," Azumi finally said after looking at Miyuki for a while. Miyuki, in return, just gave her a weird look after the girl's statement.

"What? No way! No one can replace you, Azumi," Marui laughed at the girl's 'joke.'

"Glad to hear that," Azumi smiled that her childhood still thought of her as one of his closest friend. "Say, do you want to go to the haunted house? I'm just planning on going."

"No way, you know I hate haunted house!" Marui shook his head violently stilling remembering the time when he got freak out by the 'ghost' Yanagi during Atobe's party for Kabaji's 'birthday.' (for those who don't know what I'm talking about, the mini-movie 'A Gift from Atobe)

"Don't worry, I'll be there to protect you," Azumi joked.

"Oh yeah, that makes me feel safe," Marui said sarcastically.

"But Marui-sempai, we were just about to go get some snack right now," Kirihara reminded the self-proclaimed genius.

"You guys go on without me. I'll catch up with you guys after this," Marui said as he and Azumi started to head toward the haunted house.

"Skipping food to hang out with a friend… That's not like Marui at all…" said Jackal mostly to himself. However, the two juniors agreed with him since they heard his comment.

* * *

"So it's Marui's childhood friend, huh? Did not expect that," Niou said after the event had occurred.

"I can't believe Marui just left the group like that," Nanami said casually looking up in the sky. "It's like he wanted to get out of the group or something."

"Well, I guess it's probably because it's an old friend he hasn't seen in a while," Niou guessed. "What surprise me is that he actually said 'no' to food."

"Ha ha, I think everyone is surprise by that."

"Well, I'll be right back," Niou said as he suddenly stood up.

"Where are you going?" Nanami asked and was surprised when the silver-haired boy stood up all of the sudden.

"Going to the haunted house, of course. It'll be quite a show watching Marui getting all freak out and everything," Niou explained as he pulled out his phone ready to take a picture of Marui's scared face. "Just keep an eye on Akaya and the others."

"Ai, ai, captain," Nanami gave him a quick salute.

* * *

Even though Marui said he would catch up with the group, Marui never returned to the group after he and Azumi finished going through the haunted house. Jackal thought he might have simply just forgotten the promise, while Akaya betted he was lost. Not sure which on is it, they decided to go look for the red-haired, bubble-loving third year. After a wild search throughout the festival ground, they finally found the pair as they were about to enter the Jump & Smile.

"There you are, Marui-sempai," Kirihara said after finally found his sempai.

"What happen, Marui? You said you were coming right back after going through the haunted house," Jackal asked his partner when he saw Marui was just about to enter another attraction.

"Oh, right! Sorry, I'm just having so much fun with Azumi that I forgot," Marui scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Well, then c'mon, Marui-sempai, we haven't gone through any other rides because of you!" Kirihara complained.

"Eh, but I thought you promise me that you would stay with me the whole day, Bu-chan!" Azumi gave Marui her infamous puppy-dog eyes.

"I did say that, didn't I…?" Marui remembered his promise he made toward the girl while they were walking around the festival. "Sorry guys, but I think I'll stay with Azumi for the day."

"Yay!" Azumi cheered for the fact that she won this 'argument.'

"But Marui-sempai…" Kirihara said in disappointment. "I thought we were going to have fun all together today…"

"Sorry, Akaya, but we had fun before this, right?" Marui smiled trying to cheer up the kouhai. Kirihara, who was still obviously disappointed, just gave him a light nod.

"Marui, what about your promise to Miyuki?" Jackal suddenly asked the red-haired lad.

"What promise?"

"You promise Miyuki that you were going to get her that teddy bear," Jackal reminded him. After Marui promised her that, Miyuki was so excited that she had to share with Kirihara and Jackal the second she saw them.

"Oh, shoot, I did, didn't I?" Marui face-palmed himself remembering that promise.

"Marui-sempai, it's not nice to break promise," Kirihara stated. "It's true too, because Yagyuu-sempai said so." He basically believed anything Yagyuu said since Yagyuu is: 1) older than him and 2) a gentleman, after all.

"I'm sorry, Miyuki. I promise I'll get for you later, okay?"

"That's okay. And besides, you guys can come with us, you know," Miyuki pointed out the fact that everyone had missed.

"No, that's okay. It's more fun when it's only Bu-chan," Azumi smiled widely not meaning to trash talk the other three. "C'mon, Bu-chan," Azumi said excitedly as she grabbed Marui's hand and started to drag the boy away from the group.

* * *

"So how was it?" Nanami asked when Niou returned to his post.

"It was great. Marui was completely freak out by all ghosts and everything. You should have been there. Here, I took some photos," Niou grinned still remembering the horrid face of the self-proclaimed genius. "So what have I miss so far?"

"You just miss Marui ditching the group to hang out with his childhood friend," Nanami said emotionlessly.

"What's wrong with that boy?" Niou asked as he scratched his head trying to figure it out. "Ditching the group like that?"

"Hey, don't ask me, I've never been a boy so how should I know?" Nanami sarcastically pointed out that fact that she is and always will be a girl. "You more likely should be one who knows what's going on."

"I never have an idiot's brain before so I wouldn't know either," Niou stuck his tongue out.

"Right…"

* * *

After about an hour of being separate, Kirihara's group met up with Marui and Azumi by coincident. The second they met up Jackal reminded the red-haired boy his promise with Miyuki.

"Marui, when are you going to get Miyuki her prize?" Jackal asked.

"Look, Jackal, I will keep that promise, okay!" Marui started to be a bit irate since the second they saw each other, the first question was this. And by the way Jackal was talking; it was as if he was the bad guy in this picture. All he wanted to do was to have fun with a friend he hasn't seen for many years, but it seemed like his friends did not want him to enjoy it. "I get the teddy bear later, okay, Miyuki?"

Miyuki just gave him a quick nod. She was surprise and a bit scare that Marui gave them a tone of anger. Marui had never been an easily angered guy and Miyuki definitely had never heard Marui's angry tone before. It not only surprised Miyuki but also Jackal and Kirihara.

"Marui-sempai…" Kirihara said slowly afraid of angering his sempai any further.

"C'mon, Azumi," Marui put his hand on Azumi's shoulder and started to walk to another attraction. As they were heading out, Miyuki lowered her head in disappointment, not just because of his broken promise but his sudden anger act towards her.

"Miyuki, let's go do something else, shall we?" Jackal said quickly trying to distract the girl from the previous event.

"Yeah! Let's go to the teapots!" Kirihara said exactly when he saw a group of people lining up to get into the teapots.

"You guys go head. I don't like that kind of stuff," Miyuki gave them a small smile. "It makes me feel sick."

"Then we won't go," Jackal decided.

"What! But I want to go!" Kirihara whined.

"Yeah, you guys go head. It's okay. I'll just wait at the bench over there," Miyuki pointed at the bench close to them. "It'll make me more upset if you guys don't go and have fun because of me."

"If you sure, Miyuki, then we'll be right back," Jackal put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go, Akaya."

"Yes!"

"See you guys later," Miyuki smiled at them. After the duo had left, Miyuki was finally able to put her fake smile away and think about what had just occur dealing with Marui and Azumi. _"I feel like Marui-sempai doesn't even think of us as his friends anymore,"_ she thought to herself. After looking at the ground for a while, she raised her head and started to look at the different attractions. Her eyes finally stopped upon the merry-go-round, the place she wanted to go the most, and saw Marui leading Azumi unto one of the horse. _"You promise we would go to that later…"_

"Why don't you go over there and tell him you want to ride on it?" a voice suddenly replied to her comment as if Miyuki had said that out loud.

"Nanami-sempai, Niou-sempai, what are you guys doing here?" Miyuki said almost not believing her own eyes. "I thought you were both busy."

"That's not the main issue here right now," Nanami sighed. "Why didn't you stop Marui when he was leaving with Azumi?"

"It's his childhood friend. If it was me, I'll probably do the same thing," Miyuki looked down at the ground again. She imaged if the situation was the same with her and Kirihara. "Besides, I don't have control as to where and what he does."

"You still should have say something," Niou gave her a light smack on the head. "Look how depress you look now."

"Ouch!" Miyuki was surprise when the trickster did that to her. "I'm not depressed! I just wanted everyone to be together, that's all." After she finished her statement, Miyuki got up and started to head out.

"Miyuki, where are you going?" Nanami asked.

"Bathroom."

"Ah, Nanami-sempai, Niou-sempai, what are you guys doing here?" Kirihara said in shock as he and Jackal walked toward the bench.

"None of your business, brat," Niou simply replied.

"Where's Miyuki, anyway?" Jackal asked realizing the certain blonde-hair girl was not present.

"Bathroom," Nanami replied.

* * *

After Miyuki left the bathroom, she started to look around because she wasn't sure if the group had actually waited for her in the exact spot. As she looked around, she somehow ended up at the ring-tossing booth and happened to see Marui winning the same teddy bear she wanted for Azumi.

"Thank you so much, Bu-chan!" Azumi squeaked as Marui handed the bear toward her.

"No problem, Azumi," Marui smiled happily.

"You broke another promise, Marui-sempai…" Miyuki whispered to herself. It just happened that the one Azumi was holding was the only teddy bear the booth had of the same kind. After seeing this event, her spirit and energy were completely shattered. All she wanted to do now was to go the school and go see her and Yukimura's flowers. _"I think I'm just going to go and text Nanami later about it."_ Miyuki decided as she started to head toward the exit.

* * *

"MARUI, YOU IDIOT!" a voice suddenly shouted toward the two childhood friends.

"Niou? What are you doing here? And why… OW!" Marui cried when Niou walked toward them and hit Marui's head very hard.

"Bu-chan, are you okay?" Azumi asked. "That was rude! Why did you do that?"

"Stay out of this, girlie! And what am I doing here? Why are you here breaking your promise to Miyuki?" Niou argued back. His voice had carried out quite well that now passersby started to look at the trio.

"What do you mean?"

"You promise Miyuki to get that bear for her, so why are you here giving it to this girl?" Niou wondered.

"I…" Marui was left speechless after Niou had clearly pointed out the flaw he had made today. "Shoot! What was I thinking…? Sorry, Azumi, I need to go now. Niou, do you know where Miyuki is?"

"She left."

As soon as Niou said, it was as if Marui had springs at his feet and they had just snapped since he suddenly started to sprint.

"Sorry, guess you can't have your Bu-chan all day, like you wanted," said Niou sarcastically toward the dark brown hair girl.

"Bu-chan…"

He had run toward the exit gate to catch up with the girl. Unfortunately for him, there were also tons of people leaving as well. Marui was able to spot the girl's blonde, tie-up hair; however that did not mean he was able to catch up with the girl.

"Miyuki! Miyuki!" Marui shouted trying to get the girl's attention, but Miyuki was too far to be able to hear his cry or else she was just simply avoiding him. Instead, it seemed to Marui that the second year was just getting further and further away from him. Just when he was able to catch up with her, he saw Miyuki got into a bus and the door had just closed. The bus then left soon after.

"Miyuki… I'm sorry…" Marui guilty said to himself as he lowered his head in shame.

* * *

**Wow! This was the longest chapter I have ever written in my life! 4,263 words! Talk about many words, right! I didn't want to make it this long, but I also did not want to split this chapter in two so... Here we are! As for all the carnivals games, if you don't know some of them, just go look up in wikipedia. I mean pretty much all of them I got it from Wikipedia (it's so helpful!)**

**I know I'm sorry that I made Marui the bad guy here... It might be a bit OOC too... So I sincerely apologize. But you know how people get angry when they forget to do something once and suddenly everyone is mad at them for that. Well, that was how Marui was feeling, I assume.**

**As for the pranks, Niou did finish his plan in the end :) He had Kirihara glued to a bench so Kirihara ended up walking home with a bench glued to his butt or had his pants ripped off, which ever one you guys prefer. Niou didn't continue his plan back then simply because he was more focus on making sure Miyuki was okay, which was the reason why he was there when Miyuki left the festival.**

** I hope you guys like it. And please review to tell me anything you like or dislike and what I can improve on. Thank you reading the story so far :D And have an awesome March Madness!**


	19. Chapter 16

**Hey guys! Not going to lie, I was so excited about this chapter's idea, I actually wrote it before the last chapter... But the thing was that when I wrote this chapter, I had no idea what the last chapte was going to be about and that's why this chapter is updated about a week later... Because I had to fix and add a lot of new stuffs into this chapter to make a connection with the last chapter, haha XD Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**I apologize that this chapter wasn't as long as the last one... I was thinking of making it longer, but I feel like the ending was a good cut-off so I didn't make it long... But the next one might be so stay tune!**

* * *

As Miyuki left the festival, she felt guilty for not telling Nanami and everyone else. However, seeing Marui and Azumi together, it was just too much. To her, it seemed that Marui never had the intention to come and stay with them. It was as if he was happy to leave them behind. She was also mad about the fact that Marui had not just broken one but two promises. Not only did he break the promises, he gave those words to another person. She did thought of going to find Kirihara and the others, but she did not want to have the chance of running into Marui and Azumi. As she was heading out, she did hear a faint voice of someone calling her name.

"Huh?" Miyuki said to herself when she heard the voice. "Did I just hear my name…? Nah, I must be imagining things." Miyuki quickly throw the idea off her head as she continued to head toward the bus stop. After she had got on the bus, she decided it was time to text Nanami that she was heading to the school. Right now, all she just wanted to do was to just spill all her feelings toward those flowers and try her best to forget the event that had occurred during these past few hours.

As an understanding friend, Nanami thought her idea of going to school was what best for her right now. Nanami, naturally, went along with the thought and told Miyuki that she would tell the rest of the group where she went.

Unbeknown to Miyuki, there was indeed someone calling her name out loud. The certain someone was no other than Marui, the very man who had hurt her feelings that day. The boy had tried his best to catch up with the girl but fail due to the crowd surrounding them.

_"The rooftop garden, the only place where no one can hurt me…"_

* * *

"I'm looking forward to have practice games with you guys," Yukimura said to a certain light-gray hair color captain.

"Me too."

"Oh yeah, do you have any plans later today?" Yukimura asked.

"Sorry, I've promise to go to Chiba to meet with Rokkaku," the captain replied.

"That's a shame. I was hoping to show you around the school. We even have a rooftop garden. I'm in charge of the planation there," Yukimura revealed as he explained why he had brought up this thought.

"A rooftop garden…? Well, maybe I can stay for a little bit."

"That'll be great, Shiraishi-kun."

* * *

"The roof is right this way," Yukimura said as he directed Shiraishi toward the garden. "Oh, Miyuki, what are you doing here?"

Miyuki was so focus on the plants; she did not even hear the door opening. She only turned around to see the two people when Yukimura called out her name. "Ah, Yukimura-buchou, I didn't expect to see you here either," Miyuki said looking at the duo who were standing next to the door. "I just want to see the plants today."

"Are you sure that's the only reason? I thought you went to the summer festival with Akaya and the others," Yukimura asked remembering how excited the junior ace was for the coming weekend. The other reason why he asked that was because Miyuki tended to be here to talk out her problem with the plants. She liked to talk to the plants because they wouldn't talk back and she can go on without getting on anyone's nerve. Although other times she came here, Miyuki does take care of the plants.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. I just really want to see the plants. That's all," Miyuki smiled still trying to forget what had happen earlier this day. That was half-truthful, since she had originally planned to come to school after the festival anyway. "And besides, Akaya said he had to be somewhere else so we decided to call the day off," she lied to try to convince Yukimura so he wouldn't ask or worry about her any longer.

"Are you sure?" Yukimura asked still not convince by her words.

"Of course, Yukimura-buchou," Miyuki grinned. "C'mon there's a guest here, let's not talk about something like this right now," Miyuki said as she looked at the other captain.

"That's true. Well, to answer your question earlier, I'm here to show Shiraishi our garden," Yukimura smiled as he used his hand motion to show that Shiraishi is indeed the man standing right next to him.

"Well, then nice to meet you, I'm Hayashi Miyuki," Miyuki happily said as she put her hand out as a sign of a handshake.

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Shiraishi Kuranosuke," Shiraishi replied back letting his hand held on to Miyuki's. "Well, I guess you could have known," Shiraishi laughed sheepishly since Yukimura had just mentioned his name like 3 seconds ago.

"Ha ha, well, now I know your first name too. Oh wait, aren't you the captain of Shitenhoji?" Miyuki remembered that since she watched that team played during the Nationals. (I don't know when the National was, but let's just say they already played) She was dragged by Kirihara, who insisted that she should come, to watch the games. Although she didn't mind watching them play, in fact, she had enjoyed herself during those weeks. Rikkai Dai, however, did not let her watch the game against Nagoya Seitoku since they were planning on pushing Kirihara forward. Since Miyuki was not allowed to go that game, she went to watch Shitenhoji versus Seigaku. (sorry, I don't know how long the Nationals took so I'm just guessing it's at least a week)

"Yeah, how did you know?" Shiraishi was surprise that she actually knew who he was.

"Miyuki had watched some of the National's games. She probably came the day when you guys were playing against Seigaku," Yukimura assumed.

"You guys were awesome back then. It's just too bad that you guys lost," Miyuki said with a hint of disappointment at the last part. "It would have been cool to play against you guys during the final."

"Appreciate the thought."

"Anyway, let me show you around," Yukimura started to guide Shiraishi around the garden. Miyuki, on the other hand, decided to follow and listen to Yukimura's explanation as well. "This is belladonna."

"This one has a poisonous root, right?" Shiraishi remembered that fact about belladonna. "The water in the vase was so toxic."

"The Indian Oleander is over there," Yukimura pointed to a group of flowers.

"It has poisonous that causes rashes, right?"

"Wow, that's amazing! You sure know a lot about plants, Shiraishi-kun," Miyuki praised Shiraishi.

"Thanks, Hayashi-chan. I enjoyed learning about them."

"Glad to hear that. And you can call me Miyuki, if you want," she smiled. "Everyone does."

"Alright then, Miyuki-chan it is."

"Ah, I almost forgot I have a meeting with Genichirou and Renji," Yukimura suddenly remembered. "I'm sorry, Shiraishi. I was the one who asked you to come here and yet I'm the one who had to leave first," he apologized. (I'm sorry I'm cutting the Pairpuri story short… It's too much of a hassle to write it all down since Yukimura started to talk about the legend of how Pheasant's Eyes got its color… If you want to see the rest, you guys can watch Pairpuri 5. Again, sorry)

"No, it's okay. I'm grateful that you had shown this to me. It's amazing."

"Maybe Miyuki-chan could show you around if she has time," Yukimura thought of the idea while looking at the girl.

"Sure, I'll be happy to show you around," Miyuki smiled looking at Shiraishi. "If you don't mind hanging out with me, that is."

"Not at all."

"Well, then I'll leave you guys to it."

"Bye, Yukimura-buchou."

"Bye, Miyuki-chan and see you at the court, Shiraish-san."

"Yep, see you later."

* * *

"Well, to tell you the truth, I don't really know where to show you first," Miyuki said embarrassingly unable to think of a good place to start. "Since you already saw the garden… Oh, I guess that place work!" Miyuki clapped her hands together when she suddenly thought of a place. "C'mon!" Miyuki then grabbed Shiraishi's hand and started to drag the ash-hair-colored boy around the hall.

"Woah, hold on, Miyuki-chan," Shiraishi tried to regain his balance since it was a sudden action that the girl had done to him. "Where are we?" He asked when she led him into a classroom.

"This is my and Akaya's classroom. I thought it'll be fun to see a classroom completely empty for once," Miyuki laughed. "Especially when you don't have to see some people," Miyuki whispered the last part.

"I see," Shiraishi said, ignoring the last part or perhaps just didn't even hear it. He then started to look around the classroom. His eyes then drifted toward the window, where one can see all sorts of plants that are on Rikkai Dai's schoolyard. "Wow, you guys sure have a nice view from here."

"Huh?" Miyuki walked to the window and stood next to him. "Oh yeah, it's the best. You have no idea how many times I got distracted in class looking out there," Miyuki shamefully admitted while looking out at the schoolyard. "Especially during spring when all the flowers are blooming, the second the teacher opened the window, everyone is knocked out by the warm feeling from the sweet scent of those flowers."

"I bet," Shiraishi said imagining the scents of different flowers mixed together. "That must be a delightful smell."

"It is," Miyuki joined him into the journey of sweetness. "Anyway, is there any other particular place you want to see now?"

"Um… I can't think of anywhere right now, but thanks for asking. Although, Miyuki-chan, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can I call you Yuki-chan?"

"Eh, why?" Miyuki asked in surprise. It wasn't that she hated the idea of having a nickname; it's just that she never had anyone given her a one before, especially not someone who she just got to know less than a day.

"Because I have a friend who has a sister named Miyuki too, so I feel it's a little awkward to call both of you Miyuki," Shiraishi revealed.

"I see. Well, I'm perfectly fine with it," Miyuki said, although she would have been fine with the nickname whether Shiraishi had given her a reason or not. "Then I want to give you a nickname too!" Miyuki said excitedly.

"Sure, if you want."

"Hm, how about Kura-chan?" Miyuki asked sweetly.

"Why –chan?" Shiraishi asked almost fell over by the girl's decision. (-chan is usually used to call a girl or someone who's younger than you, basically is for young, adorable people) It is true that he had friends who called him Kura-chan, but those friends are Koharu and Yuuji, so they are exception to that, and also his sister. However, he did not expect someone who is younger and barely knows him to call him by that name.

"Because it sounds adorable!" Miyuki reasoned. When she saw how disturbed he still looked, Miyuki started to chuckle, "Ha ha, I'm just kidding, but what about Ku-san?"

"Ahh~ Ecstasy," Shiraishi spoke out his famous quote.

"I'll take that as a yes," Miyuki guessed since she didn't exactly understand the meaning of that particular phrase. "So, have you thought of anywhere else you want to go?" Miyuki asked as she started to walk around the classroom carelessly.

"I did, actually. So how about the infirmary?" Shiraishi spoke out his favorite place in the whole entire school.

"Okay," Miyuki then started to lead him to the nurse's office. When they got there, Shiraishi took a deep breathe to let all the smells of medicine into his lungs. This only confused Miyuki further, so she knew she had to ask, "Nye, Ku-san, why do you want to go to the infirmary in the first place?"

"Because it's the best place in the school," Shiraishi reasoned. When he knew that the girl still not understanding what he meant, Shiraishi continued, "Taking care of yourself is the most important thing, you know."

"I know, but that doesn't mean you have to be in here all the times."

"It's not just checking yourself to see if you are okay, but it's also important to make sure the infirmary has everything it needs to take care of any possible injuries," Shiraishi explained the main reason why he went to the infirmary so often.

"I see," Miyuki understood (somewhat) the point Shiraishi was trying to give. "What are you doing now?"

Shiraishi had started to open the cabin where all the medicines were being held and started to check them. He then pointed out, "Yuki-chan, you need to tell your nurse that you guys need more cotton swab and antiseptic."

"I'll make sure to tell Matsuo-sensei that on Monday," Miyuki giggled at the boy's action. She had thought Shiraishi's action was amusing and somewhat weird, but she liked it a lot none the less. It had really helped her to forget what had happened this morning and early afternoon. Especially since Shiraishi did not know the regulars, he would not question her about it.

"Ah, I probably should be going now. I promise Koharu that I would meet him at Chiba later today," Shiraishi remembered his promise to his friend.

"I can take you to the train station," Miyuki offered. "It's a bit of a walk from here."

"Are you sure?" Shiraishi asked not wanting to bother the girl any further than she wanted to.

"Yeah, it's fine. I got nothing to do anyway and I don't really want to go home just yet," Miyuki smiled thinking of the fact that she had told her sister she would be home around 5. It was only 2:30 though. She did not want to hear her sister ask or nag about why she was home so early. She betted her sister would say something like, 'To exaggerate the time if you were going to be home more than an hour early than your guess time.' Or else, Sora would ask her something about the festival, which is her least favorite topic right at this moment.

"That would great. Thanks, Yuki-chan."

"Besides, wouldn't want you to get lost, now, would we?" Miyuki joked.

"I'm not that bad at direction, you know," Shiraishi snickered at her comment. "I did, after all, found the school by myself."

"Look who's the big boy here?"

* * *

**So the friend Shiraishi was talking about is Chitose. Apparently his younger sister name is Miyuki and I didn't realize this until a few weeks ago when I was looking at Prince of Tennis wiki. When I saw this I was like o.O this is so awkward... **

**As for bringing Pairpuri into the story, I really wanted to put one episode of Pairpuri into my story. At first, I wanted to do the last one where Rikkai Dai did Cinderella (which I might still do if you guys want to read it), but then I develope (well, not really just develope, it has always been there) a major fangirl crush on Shiraishi so I knew I had to bring him into the story, haha :P I'm sorry to all who was expecting Marui to come and comfort Miyuki... I think Shiraishi is going to be the comforter this time (without him even knowing/realizing). And I'm sorry that I didn't explain what happen to Marui as he try to find and apologize to Miyuki. I will explain it in the future chapter :) I just doesn't see it fit in this chapter so...**

**Please review and tell me what you guys think about this chapter! I hope you guys all like Shiraishi and not mad that I inserted him into the story!**


	20. Chapter 17

**Hey guys! So great new, I finish the paper I was suppose to write! Took about 6 hours of my Sunday, but I am done! Haha... I really need to work on my procrastination issue... Oh well, all it matters is that I'm done! And best of all it's spring break for me now, yay! Hope everyone has/had an awesome&relaxing spring break!**

**Anyway, let's get back to the story, shall we? I hope you guys will like it!**

* * *

"Nye, Ku-san, your tennis style is perfect. I guess that's why people call you 'Bible,' huh?" Miyuki asked as she remembered his game against Seigaku's genius, Fuji Syususke.

"Ha ha, thanks, the style is kind of boring though," Shiraishi revealed. "Although if that's what one needs to do to win, I'm gonna do it."

"I see," Miyuki said. "Nye, Ku-san, do you like tennis?"

"What kind of question is that?" Shiraishi amused a little by the girl's sudden question. "Of course, I do."

"Then that style isn't boring," Miyuki explained. "As long you like tennis, no matter what kind of style you play, that style is always fun. By the end of the day, if you still find tennis enjoyable, then there's nothing wrong with that style."

"Wow," Shiraishi was surprised by the sudden talk, or lecture, from the shorter girl. "If you say so," Shiraishi playfully patted Miyuki's head. "What about you, Yuki-chan, do you play tennis?"

"I've done it a few times. I used to play with Akaya," Miyuki closed her eyes to remember those memories. "I haven't played it in a while though."

"Want me to teach you how to play again?"

"If you want, sure," Miyuki smiled. She then remembered about her childhood and said, "I remember Akaya always have kind of been a sore loser, guess that's why he tries so hard to improve."

"Ha ha, I can see that," Shiraishi laughed, caused by her last comment. Kirihara is the perfect example for Rikkai Dai as someone who can't tolerate losing.

"Hey, cutie," a girl waved toward Shiraishi as she walked pass them. Shiraishi, on the other hand, just gave her an awkward wave.

"You must be popular, Ku-san. Almost every single girl we walked pass had said hi to you," Miyuki remembered all those girls who had said hi to him or go even more extreme as making the sign of 'call me.' (even though he doesn't have their numbers, but oh well, you know how people are) Some of them even glared at Miyuki for the fact that she was lucky enough to get a chance to hang out with a handsome guy like Shiraishi.

"It gets annoying after a while. I never work well with girls like that," Shiraishi explained.

"I can see that. Niou-sempai always says that," Miyuki remembered how sometimes Niou complained about dealing with those kinds of girls, especially when they dragged him to the school's famous cherry blossom tree where people asked others on a date. (in 30.5, I think, it talks about how there's a special place, under a big tree, don't know what kind of tree is it, so I'm gonna say it's cherry blossom, where people ask other out, and apparently Niou gets ask a lot there) "I hope you don't think of me like that."

"No way," Shiraishi chuckled. "You're pretty much the only girl I've hang around who doesn't do this. Besides if you were like that, I won't let you take me to the train station."

"You get used to it when you hang around the regulars so much. None of their charms work on me. Not saying it ever works to begin with…" Miyuki explained. "Ah, Ku-san, look," Miyuki suddenly yelled excitedly.

"What?" Shiraishi, who was almost deaf by the girl's scream, followed her eyes and ended up looking at a bakery shop. "It's a bakery store. What's wrong with it?

"It's Kanagawa's special bakery store. Their sweets are super delicious. We should go there, please, please?" Miyuki begged as she started to pull Shiraishi's shirt like a little child. It was same shop that Miyuki, Kirihara, Marui, and Jackal had gone to a few days ago. (from chapter 14)

"I guess so," Shiraishi said unable to reject the girl's plea. Shiraishi was then taken by surprise when Miyuki suddenly grabbed hold of his hand and led him into the store.

"What do you want, Ku-san?" Miyuki asked as she guided him around the store. "This looks good." Miyuki grabbed a strawberry shortcake before Shiraishi had a chance to reply. "Or maybe this one!" (she sounds a bit like Marui right now, ha ha. Guess some of Marui's habit got onto her)

While Miyuki is busy looking for a cake, Shiraishi was still unable to decide what he wanted. "Hm, which one to choose?" He asked himself.

"Ku-san, try this one," Miyuki answered him as she put a dessert in front of Shiraishi's face.

"What's this?"

"It's a cream puff. This store is known for their cream puff. It's really good," Miyuki smiled.

"Thanks, Yuki-chan, I think I'll try it," Shiraishi agreed being persuaded by Miyuki's words. He then took the puff off Miyuki's hand.

"Oh my, aren't you guys a cute couple," an elderly cashier said when Shiraishi and Miyuki walked up to the counter to pay for their desserts.

"Huh?" They both asked in unison. They then realized Miyuki was still holding on to Shiraishi's bandage wrapped hand from the time when Miyuki dragged Shiraishi into the store. However, the cashier would have guessed they were on a date by the way their conversation they had carried out.

"Oops, sorry, Ku-san," Miyuki apologized embarrassingly. They then both let go of each other's hands.

"No, the fault is mine," Shiraishi apologized right after her. After he had said that, they both started to laugh by their reactions.

"How cute," the cashier gave a gentle smile. "Alright, it's going to be 450 yens." (I just made a random number up because I didn't know how much yen those sweets are going to be)

"Okay," Miyuki reached in her bag to find her wallet to pay for the dessert. "Here you go." Before Shiraishi could say something against this, Miyuki quickly answered, "Don't worry. We're in Kanagawa, so it's my treat."

"Alright then."

* * *

"This is really good," Shiraishi commented after he had taken a bite out of the puff.

"Told you," Miyuki smiled. "They're the best. Here try the strawberry one," Miyuki handed him the strawberry shortcake.

"Thanks," Shiraishi happily accepted the girl's offer. "Ah~ Ecstasy!" Shiraishi said after eaten the shortcake.

"Ha ha," Miyuki satisfied that she was able to make Kanagawa memorable to her new friend. "Glad you like it! It's Marui-sempai's favo…" Miyuki quickly stopped herself when she mentioned the certain red-haired boy's name.

"What's wrong?" Shiraishi asked curious about why the girl stopped herself midway through a sentence.

"It's nothing," Miyuki gave him a small smile.

"Is this about what you and Yukimura-san talking about?" Shiraishi asked remembering the incident that occurred when Yukimura questioned about Miyuki's day.

"Yeah, but it's nothing important," Miyuki laughed sheepishly. "I mean it has nothing to do with you after all, so there's no point of knowing it, right?"

"Yuki-chan, sometimes it's easier to talk things out with someone you barely know," Shiraishi tried to persuade the girl to talk it out to make her feel better.

"Eh?" Miyuki said finally looking into Shiraishi's eyes. "I guess… If you really want to know…"

"I do."

"Okay, well, here's what happen…" Miyuki then explained the whole situation that had happened this morning. She revealed everything, including how Marui had broken both of his promises.

"So that's what happened, no wonder you're mad…" Shiraishi finally said as he let all her words soaked into his mind. "Have you decided what do to do about it?"

Miyuki, in return, just gave him a shake of head to show that she had no idea what to do about the situation. "What would you do if this happened, Ku-san?"

"Well, I think you should talk to him about it," Shiraishi said. When he saw how disturbed she looked, he quickly continued, "I don't mean you have to apologize. It was his fault. You have all the right to be mad, but you shouldn't let this incident destroy you guys' friendship."

Miyuki didn't give him a reply. She knew he was right. She didn't want their friendship end here, but she really doesn't want to talk to him right now. Besides, even if she did talk to him, Marui could give her the same attitude he gave to Jackal and that would only ignite her anger. Instead, Miyuki simply looked back to the ground again.

"I think it would probably be easier if you have one of your friends be there for you. They know what happens so if anything happens, they can back you up," Shiraishi clearly understood her fear of talking to Marui.

"I guess so…" Miyuki slowly closed her eyes, thinking of either Niou or Nanami or both of them, since they are the two who are most not afraid to speak out against another. When Miyuki finally decided to look at Shiraishi again, she spotted someone whom she did not expect to see. _"Man, luck is just not by my side today, is it…?"_

"Is there something else?" Shiraishi asked since Miyuki became even more sulk than before.

"That girl… Mai…" Miyuki murmured. As she did, Shiraishi glanced at the girl whom Miyuki was talking about across from the street. "She's a good friend of mine who had been avoiding me," Miyuki continued. "I don't know the reason either. Mai had been ditching me and sometimes even hang out with Kamie-sempai and start to dress like her too."

"Who's Kamie?" Shiraishi asked in confusion about this Kamie person since he assumed the girl across the street was the one who is called Mai.

"Huh, oh, sorry," Miyuki apologized and just remembered that Shiraishi wasn't from Rikkai Dai so he wouldn't have known who Kamie was. "She's a third year who I don't exactly have the best relationship with." Miyuki tried to make this sound as nice as possible without throwing out the fact that Kamie had hated her guts ever since the day she went to classroom 3-B.

"Oh, I see," Shiraishi now understood the situation.

Before Shiraishi could make another comment, Miyuki quickly stood up from the bench and said, "Sorry, Ku-san for making you listen to my problems. C'mon, we might miss the next train to Chiba if we stay here any longer."

"Wait, Yuki-chan…" Shiraishi tried to get the girl back to the original conversation.

"I'm okay, really," Miyuki gave him a weak smiled to cover up her painful memories of Kamie. "It's no big deal! And thanks for the idea about how to deal with Marui-sempai. I think I'll try it on Monday."

"I'm just glad I could help."

* * *

"We made it," Miyuki cheered as she checked the schedule for the train. "The train to Chiba is leaving in about 45 minutes." They then got the ticket for Shiraishi's trip. "There you go. What do you want to do in the meantime?"

"Mm," Shiraishi thought for a while. "How about getting lunch? I mean having an empty stomach isn't healthy, right, Yuki-chan?"

"Right, but we just ate some dessert and isn't it a bit late for lunch?" Miyuki put a hand on her stomach remembering the fact that they had just ate like 10 minutes ago.

"I know, but eating something like that doesn't count as lunch. If you don't eat a healthy meal for lunch then you wouldn't have any energy left in you," Shiraishi explained as he putted his face closed to Miyuki's to reassure his point. "And besides I haven't eaten lunch yet anyway."

Miyuki was surprised by the light-gray hair boy's answer. To her, it sounded more like he was lecturing her about how to live a healthy lifestyle than replying her question. "Okay, then I guess we can go have lunch," Miyuki smiled awkwardly due to his reply and how close he was to her.

"Glad we're in agreement," Shiraishi quickly returned to his usual smile that practically no girl on this planet could resist. "Let's go then," he then started to lead Miyuki around the section where restaurant-like stores stood.

After some decision-making, Shiraishi and Miyuki decided upon a noodle shop. Miyuki chose a bowl of beef ramen, while Shiraishi decided upon a plate of cheese risotto.

"Ku-san, you do realize this is a noodle shop, right?" Miyuki asked when their dishes were brought by a waiter.

"Yes, and?"

"So why did you choose cheese risotto?"

"Because it's my favorite."

"Got it."

"What about you, Yuki-chan? What's your favorite?"

"Hm, I got to say curry. Mom makes the best," Miyuki smiled thinking about the taste of the curry in her mouth.

"Ah~ Ecstasy," Shiraishi replied clearly approved of her choice. "Say, Yuki-chan, can I borrow your phone for a sec?"

Miyuki blinked for a few seconds since she was surprised by his sudden asking for her phone, but she quickly recovered from that shock. "Sure," she replied as she searched in her bag for her phone. "Here you go. Why do you need it?" Miyuki asked as she handed the phone over to him.

"Hold on," Shiraishi put a finger up as a signal to wait for him. He then started to hit different keys on Miyuki's phone. "There, I'm done. Now we can talk even when I go back to Osaka." He grinned as he returned the girl's phone back to her. "I can even help you with all your troubles," he joked.

"Then I might have to talk to you day and night."

"If that happens, then you don't need me, you need a psychologist."

"Maybe I should just call and text you all the time for saying that."

"Ha ha, then I guess I'll just have to start ignoring you, huh?"

"That's rude."

* * *

After they were done with lunch, they decided to simply walk around the station to look at what the stores had to offer. Miyuki kept persuading Shiraishi to buy different toys or keychain as a souvenir from Kanagawa. However, all of them were turn down by him.

"Hey, don't you look fine?" a girl, along with her two friends, suddenly came up with them.

"Yeah, what's your name, sweetie?" the friend standing next to the girl asked.

"Um, Shiraishi…" Shiraishi replied awkwardly since he could not stand these kinds of girls as he mentioned before.

"Well, isn't that a cool name!" the last friend squeaked as a reply to his name.

"Kamie-sempai, Chiyoko-sempai, Emiko-sempai, what are you guys all doing here?" Miyuki asked in surprise. She was really hoping this weekend she wouldn't have the chance of running into them, unfortunately, lady luck wasn't on her side at all today. (now, I think about it, man, does she had a rough day or not!) _'I know it is close summer, but how can they stand wearing clothes like that…?'_ Miyuki thought as she took a closer look at their outfits. All three of them were wearing strapless top and really, really short mini-skirts that basically right below their buttocks. (seriously I see girls were that kind of skirts and I always have to wonder how can you deal with that kind of clothes!? I know I couldn't...)

"It's public. We have the right to be here, stupid!" Kamie quickly gave her a glare that would make even lion crawled back to his den. Miyuki simply lowered her head as a reply. She did not want to start a scene in middle of a station and in front of her new friend and everyone else, besides she had never been able to stand up against Kamie, just like the rest of the girls in the school.

"_So she's Kamie…?"_ Shiraishi thought as he took a close look at Kamie, who was standing in between Chiyoko and Emiko. _"I can see why Yuki-chan is bothered that her friend starts dressing like her and hanging around her…"_

"I'm sorry. Is she bothering you?" Kamie suddenly turned to Shiraishi and asked. "You're always in the way, aren't you, slug?"

"Yeah, how many people do you have to suffer before you realize you're not wanted by anyone?" Emiko backed up Kamie's words.

Unable to listen to the girls' poisonous words anymore, Shiraishi decided to step in, "Hey, come on now. She's not bothering anyone and I don't mind her at all." He said rather quietly and as kind as he could since Kamie and her friends' words had been loud enough that other people started to eye them weirdly. _"Although you guys are the ones who is bothering me…"_

"It's okay, you don't have to pretend to like her," Kamie said sweetly. "No one does."

"Yeah, we will be happy to take her off of you," Chiyoko added as she grabbed Miyuki's skinny wrist and gripped it as hard as she could. Miyuki, instead, just kept looking at the ground trying her best to avoid eye contact with Kamie or her friends. Although if you looked close enough, you can definitely see the pain that was going through the girl as Chiyoko squeezed Miyuki's wrist harder and harder by the second.

"Hey, stop it! You're hurting her!" Shiraishi clearly saw the pain in Miyuki's eyes and grabbed Chiyoko's hand to force her to release Miyuki's wrist.

"Shiraishi-kun, you don't have to pretend anymore. Nobody here likes her, so it's okay to be truthful," Kamie smiled as she hooked her hand onto Shiraishi's arm. "Say, have you been working out?" Kamie asked as she started to feel Shiraishi's biceps. "Cuz you are super buff! Guys feel this!"

"Wow," Chiyoko, who released her grip on Miyuki to follow Kamie's order, and Emiko said in unison as they started feeling Shiraishi's muscles as well.

"Um… please stop…" Shiraishi said awkwardly. He couldn't tell them off strongly since his personality was kind, too kind, to stop Kamie and her friends. And since Shiraishi wasn't firm enough to them, the trio did not stop their action. In fact, they started to touch other parts of his body as well. (I feel awkward writing this… but Kamie and her friends probably will do something worse than this so… if you want use your imagination on what they would do next… please go right ahead)

"Kamie-sempai, knock get off!" Miyuki finally said. This caused everyone to shift their attention onto her. Miyuki then walked over and stood between Shiraishi and the girls. (it's kind of like what an older sibling would do when he/she sees his/her younger brother/sister getting bullied, or just think of Fuji protecting Yuta!)

"What's it to you, slug?" Kamie asked angrily by the fact that Miyuki had stepped between her crush… again.

"Ku-san doesn't like this. Nobody does!"

"What do you know, troll?" Emiko asked.

"Yeah, Marui-sama loves it when we talked to him," Chiyoko backed up her friend. "Especially when it's Kamie."

"Don't bring him into this!" Miyuki shouted clearly still angry about what had happened during the festival, but she decided to still protect her friend, even if he doesn't think so anymore. "Marui-sempai hates it the most! He only does it because he's too nice to tell you guys how awful you are!" Miyuki said as she was finally able to spill out the things that had been going through her mind. "If people have enough courage to tell you guys off, you won't even have the guts to go to our school!"

"Why you…!" Kamie griped her hand tightly into a fist. The next thing people heard was a loud _SLAP_, followed by a certain blonde-hair girl falling onto the ground. (yes, it's possible to hit that hard or else Miyuki just didn't expect this coming)

"Yuki-chan, you're alright?" Shiraishi quickly bent down to check on the girl. "Here, let me see." Shiraishi tried to lift her face up to check on her now-slapped cheek.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Ku-san," Miyuki said as she slowly stood up with the help of Shiraishi since he wasn't completely convince by her words. She then turned to Kamie and gave the girl a grin. "I think you've gotten weaker, Kamie-sempai. That slap wasn't as hard as usual." (I know I haven't wrote a part where Kamie slapped Miyuki, but it's kind of obvious that Kamie had done it due to her personality)

Shock by Miyuki's chosen of words, Kamie and her friends took a step backward by instinct. They did not expect the girl to smile at them and none the less making a smarty comment toward them afterward. The Miyuki they knew would have been silence, probably cried a little, and then ran away, but this Miyuki is completely different. She was firm and actually scary to them a little due to that even after being slapped, she still continued to smile. Most girls would have either cry or attack the slapper back. Unknowing how to deal with this event, Kamie and her friends angrily exited the scene with same 'nice' comments left behind, of course. After they left, Miyuki let out a huge relief of sigh, happy that one of her issue had finally left.

"You sure you're okay, Yuki-chan?" Shiraishi asked to make sure after the trio had left. "Your cheek looks really red."

"I'm fine," Miyuki said quietly as she touched her swollen, still sting cheek. She was still surprised by her own response to Kamie. Never, not even once, had Miyuki ever talk back to Kamie, however, this time, Kamie and her friends had gone too far by dragging Shiraishi, an innocent bystander, into their little quarrel.

"At least let me check," Shiraishi, who everyone considered him as a health freak, wanted to make sure the girl is okay. Miyuki, in returned, reluctantly agreed to let the boy checked her face. After a close examination, Shiraishi got out a bandage (the big, square kind, sorry, I don't know what it is called), which Miyuki wondered why he would carry that around, and placed it on her redden cheek. He also wrapped Miyuki's wrist with the extra bandages he carried around for his hand.

"Thanks, Ku-san…" said Miyuki quietly. "And sorry for dragging you into this, I didn't think they would be here…"

"It would have been creepy if you have known they would be here," Shiraishi joked trying to lighten the mood. "And thanks for backing me up back then. I know it must have taken a lot of guts for you to say those things," Shiraishi smiled.

"Eh?" Miyuki finally raised her head up to look at Shiraishi's eyes. "How did you…?" Miyuki was shocked by Shiraishi's last sentence. It was as if Shiraishi had known the entire story and how she had never fought back against Kamie, at least not in the way she had done this time.

"It wasn't that hard to guess. You looked pretty nervous when you realize who they are," Shiraishi explained. "So… why haven't you say that to them before?"

"I… I don't know…" Miyuki said. "I always wanted to, but I guess I just didn't have enough courage to do it… But then I saw how disturbed you looked, everything just changed…"

"You really care about your friends, don't you?" Shiraishi smiled. When Miyuki gave him a light nod as a reply, Shiraishi gently patted her head. "You know what; I think I have an idea as to how to deal with Kamie-san from now on for you."

"Eh, really, you do? What is it?" Miyuki suddenly got interested by the captain's comment. She is willing to try practically anything to get that girl off her back.

"Well, if you care about your friends that much, why don't you try thinking about them the next time Kamie started to be rude again?" Shiraishi explained his plan.

"You really think that's going to work?" Miyuki asked doubtfully.

"You're the one who's going to have to decide that," Shiraishi smiled looking at the shorter girl. "Besides it won't hurt to try, right?"

"Right. I guess I'll try thinking about you then."

"If you want, sure."

"Tamaki, get back here NOW!" A mid-age woman yelled toward her son who was currently riding a skateboard at an unthinkable speed.

"Woo-hoo! I am the king of the world!" The boy, named Tamaki, excitedly cheered as he skated on without looking where he was going. (man, I want to say, 'No speed, no life!' But he's not Kenya so... *sigh*)

"Yuki-chan, watch out!" Shiraishi shouted when he saw the little boy heading toward them. His natural instinct then took over him as he quickly grabbed Miyuki and pulled the girl closer toward his body and away from the skating boy. However, due to the training of tennis, Shiraishi did not realize he had pulled Miyuki with all his strength. So they ended up falling onto the ground (due to too much force coming toward Shiraishi's body at once). "You're okay, Yuki-chan?" Shiraishi asked to check on her after the boy had skated pass them.

"Yeah," Miyuki murmured in shock since she did not see the boy coming, so she was really surprise when Shiraishi suddenly pulled her. "What… about you, Ku-san?"

"Of course, why would you ask that?" Shiraishi asked wondering why the girl would ask that since she was the one who would be hit if he hadn't act at that moment. He then realized what she meant was that if she was too heavy for him. When they fell, Miyuki had landed right on top of him and had stayed that way even till now. They then each stood up since people were starting to look at them.

"I hope I wasn't too heavy, Ku-san…" Miyuki said as her cheek started to show a light pink color from embarrassment. She simply assumed she was fat since Sora and Roy would always say that she is obese and every time she walked the ground shook.

"Nah, you were lighter than I thought!"

"I'm glad," Miyuki sighed in relief before she thought of saying something else, "Wait, what is that supposed to mean? Did you think I was fat or something?"

"No, what I meant was…"

"Just kidding, I'm just glad you didn't think I weigh like a dumbbell or something," Miyuki smiled. "Ah, you should probably go now. The train is about to leave," she said after looking at the station's clock.

"Ah, you're right! Walk me to the train?"

"Of course, that's what I came here for."

"Well, guess this is goodbye, huh?"

"Yep, bye, Ku-san."

"Wait, Yuki-chan," Shiraishi suddenly said. "Promise me you'll visit me in Osaka one of these days?"

Miyuki simply smiled and gave him a nod as a reply. "Only if you introduce the team to me."

"Ha ha, if you really want to meet them," Shiraishi chuckled thinking about how strange his teammates are and how freak out she is probably going to be after meeting them.

"I do," Miyuki nodded then she raised her pinky up towards Shiraishi. When the boy gave her strange look, Miyuki explained, "Pinky promise."

"Right," Shiraishi then took his finger and hooked it onto Miyuki's. They then let go each other's pinky and said their final goodbye. "Well, guess I'll see you again when you come and visit me, huh?"

"Yep, see you then."

"I'll be waiting," Shiraishi gave her his final wave as he entered into the train.

"_Thank you, Ku-san… For letting me forget about what had happened earlier today and giving me the courage to fight back Kamie-sempai… And to talk to Marui-sempai about what happen today..."_

* * *

**As I promise, a long chapter had been created, haha :D And sorry if you guys didn't like the hand holding part... I told you guys I have the fangirl crush on Shiraishi right now... So expected these kind of stuff every now and then, haha XD Also I know I didn't put what to Marui in this chapter, and I'm sorry, I just don't see anywhere to fit it, so... But if you guys want, for the next chapter, I can write the point-side view from Marui. But only if you guys want it, or else I'm going to jump to Monday (or school day) for them.**

**And not going to lie, the boy's name came from Tamaki from Ouran High Host Club, haha XD **

**As for the part where Shiraishi had bandages with him all the time, the idea came from one of my friends. I cut myself one time and was looking for a bandage, so she just gave me one from her bag-pack. And someone as obsess with health and also has a bandage hand like Shiraishi would definitely have extra spare bandages, right? haha XD**

**Happy Easter, everyone! Don't only thinking about looking for eggs and such. Also remember the true meaning of Easter, of how our Lord and Savior had died for our sins and risen from the dead! Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ! :D (if you're not a Christian, and don't agree with it, fine by me, but please don't trash talk about this because I am a Christian and this is the most important day for all Christians)**

**As always, thank you for reading the story, and please review :D**


	21. Chapter 18

**Hey, guys, I am so so so so sorry for the late update! It's toward the end of school so I have a lot stuffs on my plate... I have an essay due a while ago and then my computer crush a few days ago (it's fix now, so thank God!). And also I couldn't think of what to write for this chapter so that was another reason too... Anyway, I hope you guys will like this chapter and please forgive me again for this and any future delay updates...!**

**P.S. Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter!**

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"I can't believe her! Who gave her the permission to talk to me like that? Me, out of all people!" Kamie shouted as she angrily and hastily walked aimlessly around the train station. Emiko and Chiyoko were just simply trying their best to follow her as close as possible.

"This must be just a one-time thing," Emiko said trying calmed her friend down since they were being stared weirdly by others.

"Yeah, I'm sure the next time we see her, she'll, by no doubt, back to her old cowardly self!" Chiyoko reinforced Emiko's comments.

After listening to her friends' words, Kamie finally stopped walking and murmured, "It's not fair… Why her…? Why does she always get to hang with people like that…?" (she's talking about people like Marui and Shiraishi)

"Kamie-san…" Emiko whispered clearly understood her pain.

"Am I not good enough?" Kamie continued her speech, ignoring her friends completely. "What does she have that I don't have? How can I possibly lose to some loser like her…?"

"Yuki-chan, watch out!" A familiar voice cried. Kamie and the rest of the group quickly stopped their actions and started to search for the direction of that voice. They then found the owner of the voice was no other than Shiraishi's. They were just in time to see Shiraishi pulling Miyuki closer to him and out of the skater's harm's way. When he had done that, the duo ended up falling down to the ground. When Kamie had seen this, all her sorrows had transformed into anger and frustration.

"That little sneak just doesn't know when to stop, does she?" Chiyoko asked.

"Yeah, doesn't she have any shame? Pretending to not see the skater coming just so she can be save by Shiraishi-san! How low can she be?" Emiko agreed with Chiyoko while adding some more ideas as to why the event had occurred.

"Chiyoko, give me the camera that you had brought for today," Kamie ordered. The trio had decided to go to the zoo that day and Chiyoko's mother insisted her to bring a camera to take some good memories.

"Sure, hold on a second," Chiyoko said as she searched in her bag and finally handed the camera over once she found it. "Why do you want it?"

Not bothering to answer that question, Kamie took a picture of Shiraishi and Miyuki together. As she took it, her mind had only one thought: _"You want to act as a slug, fine by me. But let's see what Marui-sama would think about this."_

"Nye, Kura-chan, why are you so late today?" Koharu asked as he and Shiraishi had just say goodbye to the Rokkaku team and was now heading back to Osaka.

"Sorry, Yukimura-san had asked me if I want to see their rooftop garden. And you know I can't refuse an offer like that," Shiraishi revealed. "I was also hanging out with a new friend, and I guess time just slipped through us."

"A new friend, really? Who is he? What does he look like? Is he cute?" Koharu started to ask the 20 questions about this new friend as he was already fantasizing what the friend would look like.

"**She** is adorable," Shiraishi chuckled at his friend's reaction.

"Our Kura-chan got a girlfriend? How romantic!" Koharu shrieked. "What's her name? What does she look like?" He then started to ask Shiraishi all sorts of questions about this 'girlfriend' of his.

"Her name is Hayashi Miyuki."

"Hey, she has the same name as Chitose's sister! That's adorable!"

"By the way, she's not my girlfriend. I barely know her, first of all," Shiraishi reasoned.

"But it's not every day that our Kura-chan would meet a girl that doesn't bother you," Koharu pointed out. "It's almost as if you don't like any girl or something. Of course, not that I blame you, boys are so much better~!"

"It's not like that and you know it. It's just that pretty much all the girls I have met so far are pain in the neck," Shiraishi explained. It was not an exaggeration either. As the matter of fact, most of the girls in Shitenhoji are either insane about him or just way too shy (due to liking him) to carry out a normal conversation with him. He had enjoyed this afternoon very much. Miyuki acted completely normal and did not treat him like he's some dreamer boy or the legendary 'Bible.'

When Shiraishi saw the desperate looks in Koharu's eyes of wanting to know Miyuki better, he decided to share the promise with Koharu, "She promised to come to Osaka one of these days, so I guess you can judge her yourself then."

"She's coming all the way to Osaka just to see you. What a wonderful girlfriend you got here!" Koharu excitedly squealed.

"She wanted to see the whole team and I told you she's not… Oh, never mind," Shiraishi sighed as he chose to give up on trying to clear things out. He chose to let it go since he can tell that Koharu had already drifted into his Lala Land. In the end, Shiraishi just silently listened to Koharu (yes, all the way back to Osaka) about what Shiraishi and his 'girlfriend' could and should do when she comes and visits. _"Yep, now there is definitely no doubt in my mind that Yuki-chan is going to lose it when she meets the team… Don't say I didn't warn you, Yuki-chan…"_

"I'm home!" Miyuki announced as she walked in the house and took off her shoes.

"You're later than you said you were going to be home," Sora reminded her.

"I've been hanging with a friend," Miyuki shrugged her shoulders. "Guess we just lost track of time."

"Wow, what happen to your cheek?" Roy asked when he walked in and saw his little sister had a huge bandage on her face.

"And your wrist."

"Oh, these," Miyuki looked at her bandage-wrapped wrist. "Nothing just slip and landed on my hand wrong," she lied. She did not want to bother them with the whole Kamie problem. "Ku-san insisted that I wore it for at least a night."

"Oh, gotcha, so who is this Ku-san person?" Sora asked in an 'I'm now interested in this topic' tone.

"He's a new friend I made today."

"Oh look, our little Miyuki is growing up," Roy smiled at Sora.

"Yeah, you beat me by a year! Way to go!" Sora laughed joining Roy with this 'fun.'

"What…?" Miyuki eyed them weirdly. As she looked at them more closely, she finally understood where they were going with that. "I just met him today, and besides he lives in Osaka." Before Roy or Sora could make another witty comment about this, Miyuki quickly changed the subject, "I'm going to make dinner now."

"Oh, c'mon, Miyuki, let us have a little fun," Roy whined.

"Yeah, it's not every day our little sister make a new friend especially one from a different city," Sora agreed. They always asked Miyuki why she never brings any new friends home. The ones she brought home had always been Kirihara or Nanami (maybe the regulars as well). Miyuki did not have that many friends who are girls since they are jealous of her for hanging out with the regulars or just simply afraid of Kamie. Besides, Miyuki always say she is happy with just the friends she has right now, so there's no point of making any new ones.

"You guys are making me sound like I'm some sort of depressing, lonely child," Miyuki sighed. "Now leave me alone, so I can make dinner."

"Miyuki, you are so sensitive about these conversation," Roy cried while Sora joined him on the subject of how mean Miyuki is being.

"_Why am I the only mature one here…?"_ Miyuki mentally asked herself.

**School**

"Miyuki, where did you go?" Kirihara asked the girl the second she entered the classroom. "You went to the bathroom and never came back!"

"I left," Miyuki replied tiredly. "I texted Nanami-sempai saying that I was going to school."

"Well, I never find you when I went and checked the school," Nanami commented walking into the conversation. She had decided to check on the second year after the group had disbanded.

"Ah, you must have come after I left with Ku-san…" Miyuki guessed. "He's just a friend I made on Saturday," she quickly said before Kirihara or Nanami could make any comments like Sora and Roy had.

"Okay, good for you…?" Nanami said confused by Miyuki sudden outburst.

"Who's that?" Kirihara asked. "I've never heard of that name in the school."

"That's because he goes to Shitenhoji in Osaka," Miyuki smiled. "He's the captain of their tennis club, Shiraishi Kuranosuke."

"Oh, I've heard of him then!" Kirihara exclaimed. "Yukimura-buchou said we are going to have a practice match with them one of these days! I hope it is soon!"

"Anyway, but back to the main point," Nanami stopped Kirihara before he can start daydreaming about having a match with the Bible. "Have you and Marui dissolve your little issue out?"

"No, not yet, but Ku-san encouraged me to talk it out, so I'm going to do it when I see him, I guess."

"You want back-up?"

"No, that's okay. I think I can handle it myself. It's not a fight or anything."

"Okay, well, see you guys later, the bell's going to ring soon."

"Bye bye."

The weekend was horrible for Marui. Yes, it is true that he had enjoyed the time he had spent with his childhood friend, Azumi. However, after realizing the mistakes he had made with Miyuki, everything went downhill after that. He had spent the rest of Saturday and the entire Sunday trying to find and apologize to the blonde-haired girl. He had tried to call and text her, but neither way worked. He was now indeed dead tired.

"Marui-sama, what happen to you? You look like you just ran a marathon" Kamie shockingly asked seeing the self-proclaimed tensai's (genius') state. "Of course, you are way too cool to be tire by such a little thing."

"Huh? Oh, hi, Kamie-san," Marui yawned. "I was looking for Miyuki all day yesterday and most of Saturday, so…"

"You were?" Kamie said trying her best to keep her anger down. She simply held her fist tightly to control herself. "Well, since we are the subject of Miyuki, guess who I saw Saturday afternoon?" When Marui lightly raised his head as a curious reply, she continued, "Miyuki, hanging shamelessly around another boy, here see for yourself." She handed him the photo.

"Okay, and…?" Marui asked in confusion not getting the point of why Kamie would bother telling and showing him this.

"Aren't you mad? She ditched and avoided you just to hang out with some random boy," Kamie whined.

"Please Kamie-san, don't make assumption without knowing the whole story," Marui begged. The words she had chosen reminded him every mistake he had done that weekend.

"But Marui-sama…"

"Kamie-san, just leave me alone," Marui sighed putting his head down once again. Before Kamie could make another attempt to talk to him, the bell ringed signaling that class is about to start.

**After School**

Throughout the day, Miyuki had been thinking when it was the best time to talk to Marui about this issue. She finally decided to speak to him after his tennis practice since she was going to wait for Kirihara to begin with, so it wouldn't matter either way.

"Why are you here?" a voice cried from behind Miyuki while she was watching the players rallied to each other.

"Oh, it's you guys again…" Miyuki sighed seeing Kamie and her friends walking toward her. Now she really wished Nanami had not left her to go to the bathroom.

"Just answer the question," Chiyoko sighed.

Miyuki felt her confident is slowly demolished, but just before it is completely gone, she remembered Shiraishi's words: _"Well, if you care about your friends that much, why don't you try thinking about them the next time Kamie started to be rude again?"_ She then took a deep breath and repeated this thought in her head over and over again: _"Ku-san's right. I just need to think about helping him…"_ She clutched her hands together next to her chest and said, "Sempai-tachi, everyone has the right to be here as long as Yukimura-buchou says it's okay."

"I guess you still have that same stupid smirk on you, huh?" Emiko sighed.

"It's not stupid. It's encouragement given from a friend," Miyuki smiled thinking about the advice Shiraishi had given her.

"You just don't know when to stop, do you?" Kamie sighed. "You better stop this before…"

"Ah, Miyuki," Yukimura greeted the girl when he saw her. "I wanted to talk to you today but just never had time."

"Yukimura-buchou," Miyuki said so glad that the captain saw and saved her from the trio unintentionally.

"Sorry, girls, mind if I talk to Miyuki alone," Yukimura smiled sweetly.

"Of course not, Yukimura-sama," Kamie smiled clearly still had some resentment toward Miyuki, but she knew she could not possibly go against Yukimura so they left the duo alone.

"So what do you want to talk about, Yukimura-buchou?" Miyuki asked after the fangirls had left.

"I just want to thank you for showing Shiraishi around after I left," Yukimura thanked her. "He called me yesterday, and he said he had a lot of fun with you."

"I'm glad he did. I had a lot of fun with him too."

Over a distance, a certain red-hair genius had overheard the two's conversation. He did not mean to, but he was close enough that even if he wasn't trying he would have heard it. Even though Marui had told Kamie that he did not care about Miyuki's friend, Marui still felt a bit of anger and sadness inside of him, though he did not know why.

"What are you doing?" A voice called snapping Marui out of his thought. The owner of the voice was no other than the team's infamous trickster, Niou. "If you keep daydreaming like that, then you are going to get your butt kick by Sanada fuku-buchou… again."

"Good point," Marui nodded. "Nye, Niou, what would you think if a girl had tons of fun with a guy she had just met?"

After hearing Marui's question, Niou couldn't help but sighed, "If you are talking about Miyuki, then I say you are worrying way too much." Niou paused for a little bit before continued. "Besides you should just be happy that some guy was able to cheer Miyuki up. And yes, I overheard their conversation as well," Niou answered Marui's future question when the lad gave Niou a surprise look.

"Thanks for that comforting thought," Marui said sarcastically.

"Puri."

**(Back to Yukimura and Miyuki)**

"Well, that's all I wanted to talk to you about. Now I need to head back to practice," Yukimura said. "I'm glad you are able to stay and watch us practice today. See you later."

"Bye bye, make sure to make those players suffer," Miyuki joked.

"Miyuki, what happen to you? Standing up to Kamie like that," Nanami asked in surprise walking towards her. "It's like I don't even know you anymore."

"Nanami-sempai, if you were here for that long, why didn't you come in earlier?" Miyuki asked. _"I really need your help then too…"_ She thought.

"Yukimura-san seemed like he got it and you two looked busy so I didn't bother," Nanami shrugged her shoulders carelessly. "Anyway what happen? I've been trying to make you talk like that for ages!"

"Ku-san gave me the idea of thinking one of my friends who is bullied by Kamie-sempai," Miyuki explained. "So I thought of Ku-san while talking to Kamie-sempai, and it totally worked!"

When Nanami heard that, she could not be prouder of the second year. She was happy that Miyuki had finally found a way to let her voice to be heard. "Glad you found a way that works for you. What are you doing?" Nanami asked when Miyuki got out her phone and started to punch in different buttons.

"I want to tell Ku-san about it!"

"If he's in the tennis club, don't you think he is still at practice right now just like our team?"

"Ah, you're right! I didn't think of that! I guess I'll just have to call him late," Miyuki said sounding a bit disappointed. Nanami, in return, just gave her a light pat of comfort.

After practice was done, Marui quickly went into the locker room and changed as fast as he could since Yukimura had told him Miyuki was planning on staying to watch the entire practice. He had intended to talk to her throughout the day, but he was so focus on trying to find the girl this weekend that he had completely forgotten to do his homework, so he was working on it during lunch time and any other time he was free.

"Miyuki!" Marui shouted as he ran across the schoolyard to get the second year's attention.

"Marui-sempai, I…" Miyuki was cut off when Marui putted a hand up to stop her.

"Don't say anything," Marui said. "If anyone should talk, it should be me. Look, Miyuki, I'm really sorry that I broke my promise…s… I really didn't mean to and if there's anything I could do, just say it and I'll do it!"

After hearing Marui's apology, Miyuki sighed and let out a small smile. "I'm not mad anymore. People break promises and make mistakes. That's just what humans do. If you know what you did was wrong and was sorry about it, then what's the point of me making you feel worse?"

"Miyuki…" Marui was surprised by Miyuki's reply. She had already forgiven him before he even apologized to her. Marui was not sure to be mad or happy about it. Part of him wanted Miyuki to scold him for his wrongdoing, so he will learn from it and never do it again. The other part was glad that she had already forgiven him not gave him the typical 'silent-treatment' or any other types of punishment.

"I'm fine!"

"Miyuki, what happen? Niou said you were super mad and I was going to have to be on my knees to beg for your forgiveness."

"Niou-sempai always exaggerated these kinds of stuffs," Miyuki sighed. "Besides, if this didn't happen I would never have met Ku-san."

"Who's Ku-san?"

"Shiraishi Kuranosuke, he's the captain of Shitenhoji. I think Akaya said you guys are going to have a practice match with them soon."

"Oh, him," Marui remembered the talk Yukimura had given them this morning and a few moments ago about their future match-up. Marui was now certain that Shiraishi was indeed the boy who was with Miyuki in the picture Kamie showed him.

"Yeah, I'm hoping to call him tonight about what happened today!" Miyuki said cheerfully clearly did not hear the disappointment tone in Marui's voice.

"What happened today?"

"Ha ha, nothing, nothing happened," Miyuki laughed it off. She did not want to get Marui involve with her and Kamie's problem.

"You sure?"

"Positive! Well, see you tomorrow, Nanami-sempai is waiting for me at the front gate," Miyuki gave him a wave before running off to the main gate.

"Bye…" Marui sighed. His mind had been calm about this thanks to Niou earlier. However, now he was starting to doubt Niou's word. Now he really wanted to know the relationship between Miyuki and this Shiraishi person. _"Maybe I should ask Azumi about this tonight. She is, after all, a girl."_

**Miyuki's House at 7:00 P.M.**

Miyuki was finally free to do whatever she wanted after the family had dinner and she had finished her homework. The second she finished washing the dishes, she went up to her room and got out her phone to call the Shitenhoji's captain.

"Hello?" Shiraishi said when he picked up the phone.

"Ku-san! I hope I didn't call you at a bad time," Miyuki scratches her head since she didn't even think about his schedule when she called and she knows how busy these tennis players' lives are.

"Nah, you call at the perfect time. I just got home," Shiraishi laughed. "So what's up?"

"I just want to thank you for your idea about how to deal with Kamie-sempai," Miyuki said her gratitude to him. "I tried it today, and it really worked! I stood up to her again!"

"Ah~ Ecstasy," Shiraishi smiled glad that his idea had gone perfectly well. "So you're not afraid of her anymore?"

"Nope, as long as I think about you, I'm good! And I never said I was. It's more like now I'm not afraid to say what I want in front her now. Oh, by the way, I told Matsuo-sensei about the missing supplies. She was glad and surprised that you know what they were called and that they were low. She said she would buy more of them today when she got off work. She just wanted me to thank you about it."

"Great," Shiraishi satisfied by the thought of resupplying those aids. "Well, since we are sharing info, I, well, more specifically Koharu did, told the team about your plan of coming here and they said they couldn't wait to see you. So hope you can come soon before the team decides to go to Kanagawa to meet you instead."

"I hope so too," Miyuki laughed. "Summer is coming up, so maybe then."

"That would be great. Well, I got to go. It's dinner time. Talk to you later."

"Yep, bye, Ku-san!"

**Marui's House (at about the same time)**

Marui, just like Shiraishi, had just returned home after going to store to buy some sweets since he ate most of the snacks at home already. He told his mom that he was going to have dinner later due to a problem he had at school so he had to talk to his friend about it right away. After going to his room and made sure none of his brothers was eavesdropping, Marui took out his cell phone and started to dial Azumi's number.

"Bu-chan! I didn't expect you to call me," Azumi said happily when she picked up her phone and saw the caller ID. "What's up?"

"Not much, just want to ask you a quick question."

"Okay, sure, fire away."

"What would you say if there's a girl who had an awesome time with a boy she had just met like a day?"

"Bu-chan, where did this come from?" Azumi asked in confusion and surprise. Throughout the years, Azumi had known Marui; he had never asked something this… weird.

"Nothing, it's just that Miyuki met a guy after she left the festival on Saturday, so I was just wondering."

"Oh," Azumi now understood why the red-haired boy would ask a question like that. "Well, I have to say they must have something special if they became such of great friends just within a day. Does she have his phone number?"

"Yeah, and he lives in Osaka."

"Oh, then I say they definitely have something."

"Are you sure? I mean can't they just be friends?"

"Bu-chan, trust me on this, after all, I am a girl. I know these things."

"You girls always seem to…" Marui sighed knowing now he had to accept the fact that Miyuki had found someone special in her life.

* * *

**So now you guys got a little prospective of why Kamie hates Miyuki. Either you can be compassionate about her now or no feelings change, either way I don't really care. I just felt like putting that, haha XD But at least thanks to Ku-san, Miyuki found her voice to go against Kamie! :D**


	22. Chapter 19

**Hey, guys! I know I updated late at night, but at least I got it on within a week! So yay for me! (self-comforting pat on the back) I actually didn't start writing till like Friday, so haha... XD**

**Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this!**

**Please review!**

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"Morning, Nanami-sempai!" Miyuki cheerily greeted the third year. She happily ran up to Nanami the moment she saw her.

Nanami, on the other hand, was surprised that Miyuki was in such a good mood. Miyuki was never a morning person. "You seem happy. What's wrong, falling off the wrong-side of the bed this morning?" She joked.

Hearing the question, Miyuki shook her head heavily as a response. "Nope, just in a good mood, that's all."

"Miyuki, having a good morning, I'll believe it when pigs fly," Nanami laughed. "Wait a sec," Nanami paused while studying Miyuki for a little bit. "You call Shiraishi last night, didn't you?"

"Is it obvious?"

"It's written all over your face. Or maybe I just have been hanging around you way too long, that I can tell something like that."

"Well, it's good to talk to him again so," Miyuki smiled. "And it's because him that I was finally able to stand up against Kamie-sempai so of course I'm happy."

"Guess that's a good of a reason as any," Nanami shrugged her shoulders. "Though I'm surprise that you woke up this early," Nanami proclaimed this since now was time when the tennis club was having their practice.

"Yeah, well, Akaya asked me to come early today so I can 'help' him with his homework," Miyuki emphasized on the word 'help' since everyone knew that this helping was more like Kirihara copying Miyuki's work. "Why are you here, Nanami-sempai?"

"I have a geography test today, so I need to study," Nanami stretched out her arms. "You know I can't focus at my house so I thought I just come here early today."

"True enough."

* * *

Well, the morning might be fantastic for Miyuki, it was awful for Marui. The moment he entered the tennis court all he was hearing was about Shiraishi and Shitenhoji. Even the first thing Kirihara said to him was when he thought the Shitenhoji team would come to Kanagawa and have a game with them.

"I don't know, Akaya. And frankly, I don't really care," Marui sighed.

"Why don't you? Don't you want to have a game with them?" Kirihara asked. "I mean their captain beat Fuji-kun, the tensai! I want to play him so badly!" Kirihara clutched his hand tightly to show his excitement in this conversation. "Ah! Miyuki, you came! I'm so glad. I was afraid you would oversleep!" Kirihara greeted his childhood friend when he saw her.

"Yeah, yeah, here you go," Miyuki sighed handing him her notebook.

"Oh, Miyuki, you know Shiraishi-kun pretty well, right?" Kirihara suddenly asked. After thinking for a while, Miyuki gave him a slight nod of I-guess. That response, of course, angered Marui a little bit, but it was ignored by the duo. "So when do you think Shitenhoji will be here so we can play them?"

"I don't know," Miyuki shook her head while thinking in her head the fact that she was not in either of the teams, so how in the world could she possibly know. "Shouldn't you ask Yukimura-buchou about this, you know, since he was the one who arrange it?"

"Yeah, but he wouldn't tell me," Kirihara pouted. "When I asked Yukimura-buchou, Sanada fuku-buchou happened to overhear it and got really mad at me. He said if I asked that again, he'll make me run 100 laps."

Miyuki sighed when Kirihara had finished that sentence. She bet the reason why Sanada was so mad was because Kirihara was skipping practice when he asked that question. "If you want, I can ask Ku-san about it for you."

"You would do that for me! Thanks, Miyuki," Kirihara smiled.

"Would you guys just stop talking about Shiraishi already?" Marui finally spoke. Although soon after he said that, he regretted it with all his heart. The two second year simply looked at their sempai with a shocking look. Seeing that expression painted on Miyuki's face, Marui started to panic and so he quickly grabbed Kirihara's hand to drag him away. "C'mon, Akaya, it's time for practice."

"But wait, Marui-sempai, I wasn't done talking," Kirihara argued.

"Well, I'm done listening."

"Marui-sempai…" Miyuki was left there speechless. "What was that about…?"

* * *

"Marui did what?" Nanami asked in shock when Miyuki told her during lunch time. "It doesn't sound like him."

"If it sounded like him, then I wouldn't be bringing up this to you, would I?" Miyuki pouted. "Maybe Marui-sempai just had a bad morning."

"Yeah, because when I have a bad morning, there's always this one person that gets under my skin," Nanami said sarcastically. Miyuki, on the other hand, just gave her a confused look. "I'm saying that he might be jealous."

"Why would he be?" Miyuki asked. "Is it because everyone is so focus on the Bible that his tensai's skill is being forgotten?"

"Uh… Sure, that's it," Nanami sighed realizing Miyuki clearly did not understand where she was going with her sentence. Nanami just gave Miyuki a light pat on the head. "So have you decided when you are going to Osaka?"

"Nope," Miyuki replied along with a shaken head. "I want to go soon, but they are coming here to play with the regulars soon so… don't know how that is going to work."

"Well, summer is coming up, so you got time to decide," Nanami grinned. Miyuki responded with happy smile.

* * *

"Hear you got a little foul mouth going this morning, huh, tantrum boy?" Niou said walking up to Marui when the bell rang signaling the time for lunch.

"You hear about it?"

"Yeah, Akaya spread the news," Niou shrugged his shoulders.

"_Thanks a lot, you big-mouth,"_ Marui angrily thought.

"I thought I told you not to worry about this Shiraishi person," Niou sighed.

"I know, but Azumi said…"

Niou cut him off before Marui could finish his sentence, "Oh no, not her again, you know I 'try' to be nice to her since she was your childhood friend, but I have to say she is really getting on my nerve."

"What do you know? You only met her once."

"And once is WAY too much," Niou said annoyingly. "Look, I don't really care what she said to you or what you think of Shiraishi, but next time, keep your emotion in check before you speak and blow off your steams again."

"I know, I know."

* * *

**After School**

"Ah, Marui-sempai," Miyuki greeted the redhead when she saw him in the hallway.

"Oh, hey, Miyuki," Marui addressed her back. "Done talking about how great Shiraishi is?" After Marui had said that he quickly covered his mouth, he could not believe that came out of his mouth. It came out so naturally that he did not really think about when he said it. _"Shoot, it slipped my mouth…!"_

"What was that, Marui-sempai?" Miyuki asked in disbelief.

"Not… nothing, nothing at all," Marui laughed sheepishly trying to cover up what he had just said.

"Are you okay, Marui-sempai? You seem very absent-minded today," Miyuki asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Marui put on a fake smile. "So are you coming to watch the practice today?" Marui said quickly change the subject.

"Nope, sorry, I promise Nanami-sempai that I would cover today's shift for one of the employees," Miyuki explained. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Okay."

* * *

"Hoi, Earth to Miyuki," Nanami said waving her hand in front of the girl's face. "What's the matter with you? You seem so out of it."

"Huh? Oh, sorry," Miyuki shook her head to snap herself out of her current state. "Just thinking about some stuff, that's all…"

"Alright then, just don't put that face to a customer," Nanami warned.

"I won't."

"Wait," Nanami grabbed Miyuki's shoulder before she had a chance to exit. "Don't tell me this is about Marui again…"

"Eh?" Miyuki sighed in defeat. "How did you know?"

"Well, for these past few days, all your problems were caused by Marui so, you know, kind of a given," Nanami explained her reason. "So spill it, what did that idiot do this time?"

"Exactly what he did this morning," Miyuki lowered her head.

"Ah," Nanami understood without Miyuki had to go any further. "So what are you going to do about this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Obviously he doesn't like the Shitenhoji team, so what are you going to do? Talk to him?"

"No, it's his issue not mine. If he's not happy with them, then he doesn't have to drag everyone down with him," Miyuki reasoned. "And besides, it's his opinion; I'm not getting involved with it. Either way, I'm done with my shift so, see you tomorrow."

"Oh, right," Nanami realized it was already 5:30. "Thanks again for covering today. It was so sudden that my dad didn't know what do to."

"It's fine. Call me again if you need anything."

"Thanks, I knew I could I count on you."

* * *

"I'm home!" Miyuki cried when she entered her house and put her shoes in the closet.

"Oh, Miyuki, you're home, great. Mom and dad want to talk to you," Roy said when he saw her coming in.

"Mom and dad are home already? Great, are they in the living room?" Miyuki asked excitedly since their parents usually got home around 7, never this early. Roy just gave her a simple nod. Miyuki then ran to the living room with Roy slowly following her behind and put her bag down on the couch before greeting the two adults.

"Ah, you're home. Guess Roy or Sora gave you the message," Mrs. Hayashi smiled.

"Mom, I'm right here," Sora sighed. "Roy did."

"Huh? Oh yeah, I was just talking to you," Mrs. Hayashi laughed at her mistake.

"So what do you guys want to talk to me about?" Miyuki asked bringing everyone back to the subject.

"Well, your aunt called today."

"Which one?"

"The one who lives in Osaka."

"Ah, Aunt Komatsu, haven't seen her for a while. How is she? Did her son find a good high school? And…"

"Hoi, twenty-question girl," Roy said tiredly. "Back to main point, would you?"

"Oh, right, sorry, you were saying," Miyuki scratched her head embarrassingly.

Mr. Hayashi sighed at her response, while Mrs. Hayashi just started laughing. "Anyway," Mrs. Hayashi continued. "She called and said she want you to come go over there for a while. I haven't said yes to her yet since it's your decision, but she seemed like she really wants you to go. She said she has a very important matter that she needs to talk to you in person. Either way I told her that summer is coming up so you can probably go."

Miyuki was left speechless. She was so excited that she can finally see her real aunt again. (Komatsu is Miyuki's real mom's sister) And now she can go to Osaka to see Shiraishi too.

"You ARE happy about this, right?" Mr. Hayashi asked in worry since Miyuki did not say anything for a long period of time.

"Huh, oh yeah, definitely, I was just thinking about…" Miyuki was cut off before she could finish her sentence.

"Ku-san?" Sora jokingly finished Miyuki's sentence for her.

"Who…?" Mr. and Mrs. Hayashi asked in suspicion and unison.

When Sora had said that, Miyuki started to blush since she was indeed thinking about Shiraishi (but not the same way Sora was thinking). "Shut up, Sora nee-san… I was…"

"Ha ha, you're blushing," Roy started to laugh crazily. "You were thinking about him!"

"NO! I was just thinking about seeing Ku-san again! Ah… I guess that counts as thinking about him," Miyuki said in realization.

Roy and Sora sweat-dropped when they heard Miyuki's statement. "So why were you so mad about…?" Roy asked.

"Hey, before you guys get deeper into this conversation," Mr. Hayashi butted in. "Who exactly is this 'Ku-san' person?"

"Oh, he's a guy I met a few days ago," Miyuki explained. "He also lives in Osaka so I can see him again when I go there."

"Ah, continue then," Mr. Hayashi satisfied with her answer.

"I guess I can call Aunt Komatsu now to decide when to go to Osaka," Miyuki stood up and headed to the phone.

After having a delightful phone call with her aunt, Miyuki was in a really good mood once again. She was kind of annoyed by the way Marui had being acting, but now she is fine. She and her aunt had decided that Miyuki can come over in about two weeks, since school ends within a week and a half. As soon as she had finished this conversation, she started another one with Shiraishi.

"Yuki-chan, you know when I said I love talking to you, I didn't mean you should call me every single day," Shiraishi joked.

"Well, I guess you don't want to hear the good news then."

"You have good news? What is it? I want to know!" Shiraishi said excitedly now fully engaged in this conversation.

"I thought you don't want me to talk to you."

"Hey, don't twist my words around!" Shiraishi said in a kind of yelling manner. "Hands off, Kenya, I'm talking on the phone!" He said clearly trying to push this Kenya person away from him, or more specifically his phone. "Yuki-chan, you might want to talk fast before the team tackles me and takes the phone away."

"Shiraishi, give me the phone! I want to know who Yuki-chan is!" Miyuki overheard the voice and assumed this was Kenya.

"Me too!" Another more energetic, louder voice yelled.

"Not you too, Kin-chan! Gin, help me, please!"

"Ha ha," Miyuki couldn't help but started laughing. "I guess you're busy so I'll cut it short. I can go to Osaka in about two weeks!"

"What? You can? That's fantastic!" Shiraishi said happily obviously still having issues controlling his teammates. "So how long are you…" Shiraishi was cut off shortly when the rest Shitenhoji team (mostly Kenya, Kintaro, Koharu, and Yuuji) started to cheer and shout out random things since they overheard this announcement. "You know what; I'll call you later about this. Talk you later, Yuki-chan."

"Ha ha, bye, Ku-san, good luck controlling this team of yours."

* * *

**Sorry, that it is so short compare to these past few chapters... I want the chapter the cut off right around here so, and I couldnt' think of anything else to add that doesn't sound like a filler so... At least, you guys got to see a little tantrum threw by Marui so, haha, don't know if that's a good thing or bad... XD**

**Either way, I'm hoping (what am I saying, I will) to make the next chapter starts with Shiraishi's side, that way everyone gets to see a little off how insane this team is. (not that you guys don't already know, but...) But I'll try to make them as close to as their real personalities are. So if they seem OOC, I sincerely apologize for my inability to show their true personalities.**


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